CISWH Project Resources

Certain vulnerable subgroups of children with special health care needs (CSHCN) face underlying structural disadvantage in terms of health care coverage. Differences exist within the population of CSHCN based on race, ethnicity, income, immigration status, language, and level of functional difficulty. This tutorial clarifies the language used to describe these differences and provides tools and examples of policies, programs, and partnerships that users can adopt in their states to improve access to coverage and financing of care for the most vulnerable children. An accompanying interactive worksheet helps users distill the information presented to identify health care coverage and financing inequities that may exist for CSHCN in their state or organization. The completed worksheet provides information that may serve as a starting point for discussions in how to address inequities for CSHCN.
View description of webinar introducing this tutorial.

In a 2012 survey, families with children with special health care needs (CSHCN) identified care coordination as their top priority. At its best, care coordination is a covered service—a command center, of sorts—that addresses the interrelated medical, social, developmental, behavioral, educational, and financial needs of children and their families. But there is great confusion over who is responsible for providing care coordination services, who should pay for them, and how to get reimbursed for such services. As a result of this inefficiency, CSHCN and their families experience even greater difficulties. This report, funded by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, discusses why care coordination has been insufficiently financed and reimbursed to date, and what can be done to address these challenges.

Making It Possible to Care for Children with Significant Disabilities at Home

The Catalyst Center’s State Data Chartbook offers a comprehensive array of data from a variety of different sources on the coverage and financing of care for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN). One of the data indicators found in the Chartbook under the topic area “Factors Influencing Health Insurance Coverage” tells users whether or not a specific state offers Medicaid eligibility to children either under the TEFRA state plan option or under a Katie Beckett home and community-based services waiver. This article provides an introduction to the two options and how they came into existence.

This policy brief explains what the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) means in terms of creating additional pathways to Medicaid for children, a comparison of TEFRA and HCBS waivers, how TEFRA affects children with special health care needs, and suggested improvements that could provide further support to families.

This presentation explains Health Insurance Options for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

The Catalyst Center hosted a 5-part webinar series to provide an overview of our newly released Medicaid/CHIP Tutorial, Public Insurance Programs and Children with Special Health Care Needs: A Tutorial on the Basics of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This first webinar explains how and why the tutorial was developed, gives examples of Title V and Medicaid/CHIP Partnerships, and what’s covered in the tutorial.

How do I know my peer program is working? Wednesday, January 26, 2011, ET
Peers living with HIV/AIDS play an essential role in engaging HIV-positive individuals in care and treatment. This webcast is intended for organizations and individuals interested in learning about methods to document the impact of peer services on HIV care and treatment. Evaluators working in clinics and community-based organizations discuss strategies and tools for monitoring, evaluating, and disseminating information about peer programs.

HIV-positive peers who work to retain PLWHA in care and treatment and who may have experienced life challenges similar to those of their clients have unique needs for supervision and support. Effective peer supervision calls for supervisors to develop a highly supportive supervisory style that borrows from mental health counseling, social work and supervision. This webcast provides strategies for supportive and clinical approaches for supervising peers in the workplace. Panelists discuss case examples addressing issues such as managing peer-client relationships, working with peers as part of a multidisciplinary team and supporting peer development.

Learn how different systems define children with special health care needs, the basics of Medicaid and CHIP, and different kinds of partnerships between Title V and Medicaid/CHIP.

As the role of peers in HIV care and treatment has become increasingly valuable, so has the need for comprehensive training materials. The PEER Center and the Peer Education Training Sites have developed a toolkit, Building Blocks to Peer Success, to assist trainers and program directors in planning a peer training for newly hired peers or providing continuing education for existing peers. This Webcast gives participants an overview of the content and organization of the toolkit as well as a brief introduction on how to use the toolkit to plan and organize training.