Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) News and Research

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HHSC, Texas Health extend Kofax Capture solution

Kofax plc, the leading provider of document driven business process automation solutions, today announced the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) has extended its Kofax Capture solution to process a higher number of documents annually.

28 Jun 2011

Majority of publicly-insured children unable to get doctor's appointment for medical conditions

Sixty-six percent of publicly-insured children were unable to get a doctor's appointment for medical conditions requiring outpatient specialty care including diabetes and seizures, while children with identical symptoms and private insurance were turned away only 11 percent of the time, according to an audit study of 273 specialty physician practices in Cook County, Ill.

16 Jun 2011

Research roundup: More spending can lead to better care; Calif. exchange lessons; high-volume hospitals

Medical Spending And The Health Of The Elderly -- Does more medical spending lead to better health care for people over age 64? To answer that question, "researchers from George Mason University and the Urban Institute used data of 17,438 elderly who entered the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey in the fall of each year from 1991 to 1999, and conducted multiple interviews over three years," according to one description of the study.

4 Jun 2011

Research Roundup: Medicaid co-payments, access to docs causes worse health

Disparities In Child Access To Emergency Care For Acute Oral Injury -- This study looked at the "impact of insurance status on dental practices' willingness to schedule an appointment for a child with a symptomatic fractured permanent front tooth." Six researchers posed as mothers of 10-year-old boys who all had the same injury but different coverage: Medicaid/Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or private Blue Cross dental insurance.

27 May 2011

State roundup: Gov. Brown offers revisions to health budget

A new state department would be formed to manage California's violence-plagued mental hospitals under a proposal in the governor's Monday budget revision. The push to create a Department of State Hospitals — and eventually do away with the Department of Mental Health, which now oversees the facilities — comes as lawmakers and employee unions press for changes to address increasing patient assaults on fellow patients and staff.

18 May 2011

HHS dual-eligible program seeks to lower states' Medicaid costs

The centerpiece of the program, which HHS says could result in savings of billions of dollars a year, would give states access to data detailing how Medicaid populations use Medicare services.

13 May 2011

Research roundup: Successful medical homes; shortage of HIV doctors; boosting use of $4 generic drugs

Every Friday, Jennifer Evans compiles this selection of recently-released health policy studies and briefs.

19 Mar 2011

Research roundup: Hospital infections and costs; Prescription confusion; Medicaid and access to care

"Sepsis affects approximately 750,000 patients each year in the United States and is in many ways a model condition for examining the relationship between hospital spending and patient outcomes and for identifying potential opportunities to improve the value of hospital care," write the authors.

5 Mar 2011

New resources made available to increase awareness of PCIP

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today made new resources available to the media, consumer groups, states, health care providers, and others to increase awareness of the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan, a health plan for uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions created by the Affordable Care Act.

11 Feb 2011

Over 2 million children gain Medicaid or CHIP coverage during 2010

Two years after President Obama signed the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA), HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced that more than two million more children were served by Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) at some point over the past year.

4 Feb 2011

New state scorecard finds geographic disparities in health insurance coverage for children

Two years after the reauthorization and expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program, a new Commonwealth Fund state-by-state scorecard evaluating how the health care system is working for children finds that federal and state action on behalf of children has helped preserve, and even expand, health coverage for this group, despite the severe recession.

2 Feb 2011

Government's health care fraud prevention and enforcement efforts recover over $4 billion in FY 2010

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and U.S. Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli today announced a new report showing that the government's health care fraud prevention and enforcement efforts recovered more than $4 billion in taxpayer dollars in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010.

25 Jan 2011

Three million Medicare beneficiaries receive prescription drug cost relief through Affordable Care Act

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced that three million Medicare beneficiaries nationwide have received prescription drug cost relief through the Affordable Care Act. To date, three million eligible beneficiaries who fell into the drug coverage gap known as the donut hole during 2010 have been mailed a one-time, tax-free $250 rebate check.

21 Jan 2011

CWLA disappointed with House's vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act

The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), the nation's oldest and largest membership-based child welfare organization, is speaking out against the House of Representatives' vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

21 Jan 2011

MAXIMUS signs Eligibility Support Services contract with HHSC

MAXIMUS, a leading provider of government services, announced today that it has signed the previously announced Eligibility Support Services contract with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The three-year base contract is valued at $315.3 million with an additional two option years.

6 Jan 2011

California's MRMIB extends Healthy Families contract with MAXIMUS

MAXIMUS, a leading provider of government services worldwide, today announced that an extension of its Healthy Families contract was approved by the California's Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB) on September 15, 2010. The five-year extension will begin on January 1, 2011 and is valued at approximately $360.6 million.

8 Dec 2010

Report shows spells of poverty may have lifelong health implications for children

Spells of poverty, even if temporary, may have lifelong health implications for children, according to the largest report so far reviewing the recent recession's effects on child well-being.

16 Nov 2010

States slash budgets for tobacco-prevention programs; Florida lawmakers consider Medicaid revision; Md. to probe nonprofit mental health clinic

"Many cash-strapped U.S. states are slashing budgets for tobacco-prevention programs, raising alarms among public-health groups as the nation's progress toward getting adult smokers to quit has stalled. The adult smoking rate was 20.6% in 2009, the same as a year earlier and largely unchanged since 2004, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

10 Nov 2010

Florida to drop 350 uninsured HIV/AIDS patients from drug program; Ore. and Wash. set up enrollment periods for children's insurance; Calif. gets federal grant to update Medicaid program

The Miami Herald/The Sun Sentinel: "The Florida Department of Health plans to drop about 350 uninsured HIV/AIDS patients from a federally funded program that pays for all or most of their drugs, because of a budget crisis. An additional 2,000 or more HIV-positive patients are at risk of being bumped from the program unless the state can close a $16 million shortfall in the next few months, officials said Tuesday.

4 Nov 2010

Anger, seniors and Ad campaigns: Health reform politics

A poll released Tuesday shows most seniors in Medicare's prescription drug benefit program don't know that the health law "closes Part D's coverage gap," The Hill's Healthwatch blog reports.

14 Oct 2010