National Consensus Framework for Care Systems Serving CSHCN

Outcome

As children with special health care needs increasingly receive health care from managed health care plans it is important to assure that those plans are capable of providing the scope and quality of services needed by this higher risk population. Following an extensive literature review and solicitation of expert opinion, project staff convened a national workgroup of state and federal agencies, professional associations, family advocates, academics and others to arrive at consensus about how to frame standards for systems of care for children and youth with special health care needs. That framework was used to organize more than 90 standards for processes and services that a system of care serving these children and youth should provide. The framework and standards are available here. Funds for a subsequent project to promote dissemination and use of these standards were awarded by the Foundation.