CISWH Project Resources

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.

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.

Catalyst Center presentation from a July 12, 2012 Webinar conducted by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. The webinar covered innovative strategies to improve the delivery and payment of health care services to children with special health needs.

This is the fourth webinar in a five-webinar series about the Catalyst Center’s latest technical assistance tool 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 webinar is an opportunity to learn about some of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that were designed to protect both eligibility and covered services for the 35.9% of children with special health care needs (CSHCN) who rely on Medicaid or CHIP (NS-CSHCN 2009/10 ). Participants will also learn about building partnerships amongst Medicaid, CHIP, Title V, patients, families, and other stakeholders to identify improvement projects in their state to better serve all children, including CSHCN.

On Sept. 2, 2014, Meg Comeau, in her capacity as chair of the Health Care Access and Financing Work Group, New England Genetics Collaborative (NEGC), presented the information described in a new policy brief titled New England Children with Genetic Disorders & Health Care Reform: Information and Recommendations for State Policymakers. The webinar and policy brief outline gaps in insurance coverage and benefits experienced by children with genetic disorders and their families, based in part on the results of an online survey of families of children with genetic disorders living in the six New England states. The policy brief and webinar include recommendations for stakeholders under the ACA and beyond.

On April 19, 2013, Meg Comeau attended the 30th meeting fo the Secretyary’s Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children. She presented and discussed the Affordable Care Act, described the state marketplaces that will open in January 2014, among other topics.