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Opportunities for Promoting Effective Health Coverage and High-Quality Care for Children and Adolescents |
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From The Commonwealth Fund: Over the last decade, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has expanded access to health coverage for millions of children, improved the quality and effectiveness of care, and expanded the knowledge and tools needed to measure and further improve quality. SCHIP reauthorization presents an opportunity to build on these gains. Indeed, significant provisions to enhance a focus on quality are included in both the House and Senate versions of the SCHIP reauthorization bills passed in July 2007. SCHIP reauthorization presents an opportunity to build on these gains---to transform the "good" coverage and quality of care provided by SCHIP into "great" coverage and quality. In fact, both the House and Senate versions of the SCHIP reauthorization bill contain important, though somewhat different, provisions for improving the quality of the programs, the coverage and benefits they provide, and the care to which they would enable access. At the same time, the reauthorization process is opening the door for reforms in the Medicaid program, as well as the possibility for both Medicaid and SCHIP to work together seamlessly to advance the quality of children's health care. To achieve a high performance health system for children and youth, there need to be adjustments to the federal--state partnership through which SCHIP and Medicaid are managed. CMS could coordinate with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau to expand support for state-based Family-to-Family Health Information Centers to train and support families interested in improving the quality of the health system. Providing incentives to states to improve the quality of care delivered through SCHIP/Medicaid can help spread exemplary practices and innovations.
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