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$500,000 in Grants to Improve Health Care System for Kids with Special Health Care Needs

PALO ALTO – An analysis of California’s public expenditures on children’s health care is among seven projects that have been awarded grants from the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health.

See details about the grantees and their work here.

The grants, totaling nearly $500,000, aim to support improvements in how health care and related services are provided for the 1 million children in California who have special health care needs. The current delivery system is complex. Fragmented health care, social services and educational programs make it difficult for families to coordinate the multiple services these children require.

“Our goal is to promote a system that meets the needs of these children and their families while also providing care in a more cost-effective manner,” said David Alexander, MD, president and CEO of the foundation.

The grants will support a range of programs and research toward that end, including an assessment of child health revenue and expenditures in California, to be conducted by the California Budget Project.  Federal, state and county funds all contribute to various programs, notes Edward Schor, MD, senior vice president at the foundation.

“Currently there is no clear picture of how these funding sources work together to support child health care,” Schor said. “We hope that this analysis will provide policymakers with useful information that will assist them in developing a better coordinated system.”

The other grant projects include:

  • An assessment of how habilitation services will be defined under the essential health benefits provision of the Affordable Care Act;

  • Development of a model of a children’s health care system for California that integrates multiple existing programs;

  • Identification of key issues to be addressed if children are transitioned into Medi-Cal managed care from other coverage;

  • Identification of evidence-based behavioral interventions that help families of children with special health care needs assume more responsibility for managing their child’s care;

  • Establishment of a national leadership institute for state directors of programs for children with special health care needs; and

  • Development of a national online information and networking center for academic medical centers that operate complex care clinic treating children with special needs.

For more detailed information on the grantees and their projects, click here.

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About the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health: The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health is a public charity, founded in 1997. Its mission is to elevate the priority of children’s health, and to increase the quality and accessibility of children’s health care through leadership and direct investment. The Foundation works in alignment with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the child health programs of Stanford University.