Medicaid support for infant and early childhood mental health: lessons from five states
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Author(s):
- Johnson, Kay, (Of Georgetown University. Center for Children and Families), author Burak, Elizabeth Wright, author
- Contributor(s):
- Georgetown University. Center for Children and Families, issuing body.
- Publication:
- [Washington, DC] : Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, Center for Children and Families, September 2023
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Child Health Health Services Accessibility Infant Health Mental Health Services Medicaid Socioeconomic Disparities in Health State Health Plans California Colorado Michigan North Carolina Washington
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Given the outsized role of Medicaid coverage for young children, understanding how to leverage financing for early childhood health, mental health, and developmental services is important to ensure equity and optimal developmental outcomes. Medicaid has the largest reach of any public program providing services to young children, covering more than 40 percent of young children ages birth to six and three-fourths of low-income children under age 6 in 2021. More than 40 percent of infants and more than 6 in 10 Black, Hispanic, and Native American/Indigenous babies are covered by Medicaid. Enrollment data in 2022 shows more than half of the nation’s children are covered by Medicaid and CHIP, which likely extends to young children as well. The vast majority of young children (90 percent) receive one or more health care visits in a year, which offer important changes to strengthen promotion, prevention, and early intervention services for children and their families. Medicaid’s Early Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) child health benefit is designed to focus on prevention and early intervention by financing an array of services children need to correct or ameliorate identified conditions. At the same time, coverage for health and developmentally-appropriate services to aid healthy early childhood development, particularly early childhood mental health services, are not consistently recognized or broadly understood by the more adult-focused traditional health system. The EPSDT benefit is implemented by states under broad federal guidelines, and wide variations can be seen among state interpretation and implementation impacting access to health care services. Together, the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, National Center for Children in Poverty, and Johnson Group Consulting conducted a 2022 survey, which provides up-to-date and point-in-time information about how state Medicaid policy and financing are evolving in relationship to the field of early childhood mental health. As awareness has grown, a number of states have used Medicaid to finance early childhood mental health services for several decades or have made recent policy changes with potential for large-scale change. This report summarizes lessons learned based on interviews with Medicaid officials, child advocates, and early childhood mental health leaders in five select states: California, Colorado, Michigan, North Carolina, and Washington State. The states were selected from a dozen or more who have effectively used Medicaid to finance infant and early childhood mental health services (IECMH) and represent variations in policy development.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (20 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918733186306676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918733186306676