Support for Families is a parent-run San Francisco-based nonprofit organization, founded in 1982, that offers services and counsel free of charge to families of children with any kind of disability or special health care need.
We would like to call your attention to a new article on HealthyCal.org about the expansion of California’s Medi-Cal program to include more than 800,000 children formerly covered by Healthy Families.
When we surveyed our members in the Fall about Network priorities, care coordination emerged as the top issue for action. So I’m pleased to let you know that among eight grants approved by the Foundation’s board of directors last week, five grants focus on care coordination.
Our program on improving the system of care for children with special health care needs was featured in a recent edition of the Grantmakers in Health Bulletin.
National and state reforms to health-care delivery – largely designed to improve care for older Americans – may inadvertently exacerbate health disparities for the youngest Americans. Nowhere is this danger greater than for children with complex health conditions who live at or near poverty.
A new survey identifies key issues that the Network and the foundation should address, notably care coordination, family-centered care and finance reform.
Now that the health care reform bill has been upheld, our California Advocacy Network for Children with Special Health Care Needs will continue to work toward an improved delivery system for children in California’s Exchange program, Medi-Cal, the California Children’s Services program, and private health plans.
In the early 1980s, Katie and her family became emblematic of a national effort for children and people with disabilities to receive long-term care in their homes rather than in hospitals.
The Essential Health Benefit package is, of course, particularly important for children with chronic conditions and multiple medical needs. These children not only use more health care services, but also require more complex services over longer periods than those needed by most children. An inappropriate benefit package can dangerously limit the services children with special needs may obtain, jeopardizing their health.
A relatively small proportion of California’s children with special health care needs will be covered under the new Health Benefit Exchange. However, the creation of new benefit packages offers an opportunity for developing a high quality, cost-effective model to serve these children.
