Children and Families

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report and the white paper commissioned by the National Interprofessional Initiative on Oral Health both examine the wide disparities in oral health due to lack of access. The U.S. fails to provide proper access for ongoing and preventative oral health care needs. A push must be made to integrate dental care as a component of primary care. There is also a focus on the impact and burden of oral diseases and their effect on quality of life.

The second annual report to Congress examines the services utilized by Medicaid's behavioral health beneficiaries. The findings indicate that low-income children have high levels of unmet need in the mental health care arena. Additionally, the review of Medicaid's dental coverage found considerable variation between states, particularly for services provided to adults. The report findings illustrate the potential directions for change to improve care for beneficiaries.

This report reflects on Medicaid’s accomplishments and challenges and considers the issues on the horizon that will influence the course of this major health coverage and financing program moving forward. The report follows Medicaid’s evolution, including major legislative changes and other inflection points in the program’s history and analyzes how Medicaid threads through our health care system today and the measure of its impact.

With medical advancements, a new generation of youth with pediatric chronic health conditions and disabilities are now surviving to adulthood, and that means thousands are aging out of the pediatric system annually. This article examines the results of the Shared Care Initiative in British Columbia in developing transition planning processes.

The Federal Partners in Transition, an interagency workgroup, has published a strategy report to ensure that federal programs and resources effectively support American young adults with disabilities in reaching their goals of independence. This report identifies five outcome goals to operate across agency boundaries in an effort to enhance coordination and improve compatible policies among the multiple federal programs that support transitioning youth with disabilities and their families.

This online report provides data and statistics on the most common cancers in America, future trends, and prevention measures. The online report also includes a short video summary.

This GAO report examines (1) the extent to which Medicaid enrollees have private insurance, and (2) the state and CMS initiatives to improve third-party liability (TPL). Given the findings in the report, GAO recommends that CMS routinely monitor and share information regarding key TPL efforts and challenges, as well as provide guidance on state oversight of TPL efforts conducted by Medicaid managed care plans.

Medicaid LTSS is not a system that was purposefully built, but rather one that evolved over time out of legacy programs that were designed to meet the needs of different populations, differing state approaches to policy, court decisions, client advocacy, and changing ideas about where and how LTSS should be provided. MACPAC’s future work on Medicaid LTSS will focus on building a better understanding and moving policy in the direction of a more efficient and effective system of LTSS.

This report summarizes audited Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) results for calendar year 2013. Data come from a record number of health plans -- 814 HMOs and 353 PPOs, representing more than 171 million people, or 54 percent of the U.S. population.