Knowledge — Leadership — Action
Covering Kids & Families
Forty-four million Americans lack health coverage and sadly, 8.4
million of them are children under the age of 18. Two-thirds of these
uninsured children live in families with incomes below 200% of the
federal poverty level ($38,700 for a family of four). Such severely
limited resources can place attainment of private health coverage
out of reach even if they are fortunate enough to work for an employer
that offers health coverage. There is hope for families unable to
afford health coverage on their own. The Southern Institute's groundbreaking
research on improving access to Medicaid coverage for lower-income
children and families in the early 1990s led the way to reform and
the removal of public health coverage eligibility barriers. In 1997
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) named the Southern Institute
as the National Program Office for its Covering Kids national health
coverage initiative.
The Covering Kids initiative (1998-2002) was established to reduce
the number of eligible, uninsured children through enrollment in Medicaid
or the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). A review
of the Covering Kids initiative indicated, "In all 50 states
and the District of Columbia, people and organizations at the state
level and in local communities were mobilized to reach out to families
and encourage state governments to experiment with outreach, administrative
simplification and coordination. Covering Kids empowered organizations
and individuals to get deeply involved and effect change in formerly
'off-limits,' complex, and misunderstood publicly-financed health
care programs." Encouraged by the gains made during the initiative,
and armed with research suggesting that offering coverage to parents
can help identify and enroll more eligible children, RWJF established
the next phase in 2002. The Foundation named the initiative Covering
Kids & Families (CKF), and once again requested that the Southern
Institute lead the effort as the National Program Office.
Covering Kids & Families is the nation's largest single effort
to find and enroll eligible children and adults in Medicaid and SCHIP.
It is a four-year, $55 million national initiative of RWJF with a
focus on reducing the number of eligible, uninsured children and adults
through enrollment in Medicaid and SCHIP. Critical to the operation
of CKF is a combination of three interrelated strategies that reduce
eligibility barriers and effectively contribute to the reduction in
the number of uninsured children and adults who are eligible but not
enrolled in Medicaid and SCHIP. These three strategies are:
· Outreach to uninsured, eligible children and adults;
· Simplification of burdensome policies and practices that
act as barriers to eligible children and adults who wish to enroll
in public health coverage programs; and
· Coordination of policies and procedures that promotes a
seamless system and places children and adults in the appropriate
program at all times.
Covering Kids & Families is a national network involving grantees
in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Forty-six states focus
on enrolling eligible children (known as CKF Part 1) and 17 states
also perform activities to enroll eligible adults (known as CKF Part
2). The remaining five states operate through CKF Liaison grants that
address CKF outreach, simplification and coordination strategies on
a smaller scale. Overall, CKF encompasses statewide projects in all
50 states and the District of Columbia and approximately 146 local
projects, with CKF coalitions totaling approximately 7,350 members
representing 5,675 organizations nationwide.
The Southern Institute utilizes a regional technical assistance approach
to help grantees implement the CKF strategies. In 2004 our CKF staff
led a calendar filled with activities to advance the goals and strategies.
One of the major tactics used by the Southern Institute in direction
of this national program is to convene CKF grantees with federal,
regional and state Medicaid and SCHIP officials, regional and national
organizations and policy experts to build knowledge and capacity to
accomplish the goals of CKF. Four regional meetings were held in Miami,
San Francisco, Boston and Chicago between May and July of 2004. The
regional meetings gave CKF grantees the opportunity to work one-on-one
with state and federal Medicaid and SCHIP officials from their respective
regions of the United States. In addition to sharing knowledge and
building partnerships, regional meeting attendees participated in
three days of intensive collaboration, which resulted in the development
of action plans designed to address state-specific challenges. Since
grantees returned home, they have been encouraged by what they have
accomplished in terms of implementing their action plans and have
commented positively on results that have been achieved.
The CKF program also sponsored additional meetings in 2004 to engage
grantees, health coverage policy experts and public and private organizations
in discussions about CKF-related issues. Two meetings of the CKF Eligibility
Policy Group, which is composed of state and national health coverage
policy experts and promotes dialogue and information sharing among
experts, were held in January and September of 2004 in Washington,
DC. Two CKF Regional Partnership Meetings also were held in 2004 to
encourage information sharing and relationship building among groups
whose work is closely related to that of CKF. The Southern Regional
Partnership Meeting was held in February in Atlanta and convened southern-based
advocacy and provider groups. The Western Regional Partnership Meeting
was held in November in Denver and convened policy staff designated
by governors in the western region.
The CKF Process Improvement Collaborative, which began in 2003 with
the first of three learning sessions, continued in 2004. The CKF collaborative
takes advantage of the experience gained by the Southern Institute
through directing RWJF's Supporting Families After Welfare Reform
project (2000-2004). The second and third learning sessions were held
in 2004. The learning sessions help teams of grantees and state and
local officials learn to test, adapt and implement strategies that
can maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the enrollment and
renewal processes in Medicaid and SCHIP. A second CKF Process Improvement
Collaborative to be conducted by the Southern Institute's Eligibility
Process Improvement Center was approved to take place in 2005.
Covering Kids & Families staff provided continuous support to
facilitate the day-to-day operations of CKF statewide and local projects
in addition to the major activities described earlier. Staff completed
18 CKF state technical assistance site visits and an additional 14
state site visits in conjunction with the CKF Process Improvement
Collaborative. Support also was provided through the CKF Web site,
CKF Announcement listserv, interactive CKF Talk listerv, e-mails,
conference calls, publications and one-on-one technical assistance.
Everyday the Southern Institute works to increase the number of children
and adults with health coverage. It is something no one should have
to live without. We will continue to direct national CKF activities
in 2005 and help make certain that every eligible child and adult
has access to public health coverage.
To learn more about improving access to health coverage and the CKF
Initiative please visit www.thesoutherninstitute.org/health.asp or
www.coveringkidsandfamilies.org.
|
|
