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2018 Year in Review

Thank you to our partners, stakeholders, and funders for another productive year. Below, we look back at a few highlights from what we've accomplished together in 2018 and provide links to resources we produced. We look forward to working with you in 2019 to continue to improve financing of care for children and youth with special health care needs. Be sure to follow us on social media for weekly updates.

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New Funding and a New National Network

The Catalyst Center’s funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) was renewed for another five years in 2018, allowing us to continue our work to advance the coverage and financing of care for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN). As part of a $500,000 per year co-operative agreement, the Catalyst Center will join a new national network of technical assistance centers focused on building the system of services for CYSHCN through three core health system components: access to the patient/family-centered medical home, transition into adult health care systems, and the adoption of health care financing models that improve care and outcomes while achieving cost savings.The Catalyst Center will collaborate with two other center s, Got Transition and the National Resource Center for Patient/Family-Centered Medical Home on the national network to support state Title V programs, family leadership organizations, health care providers, and other stakeholders.

New Resources in 2018

6 Infographics These infographics highlight critical components of the system of services for CYSHCN Value-based purchasing for CYSHCN The importance of partnerships in advancing financing and coverage Medicaid and CYSHCN Inequities in coverage of care for CYSHCN Financial hardship in families raising CYSHCN Care coordination for CYSHCN

3 Collaborative Events Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs Conference Workshop: Addressing Health Care Coverage Inequities among Children with Special Health Care Needs. View slides. Webinar—Aligning Services with Needs: Complexity Tiering for Children with Chronic and Complex Conditions. Sponsored by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health, and co-hosted by the Foundation, Catalyst Center, and Family Voices. Watch the video. Summit on Financing Care for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs from a Lifecourse Perspective. The Catalyst Center, in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics, convened 34 nationally-recognized experts in Chicago for two days to discuss innovative strategies to improve coverage and payment for services important to CYSHCN with a focus on spending in childhood as an investment in the lifecourse.

Journal of Child Health Care Article: Access to care among children with disabilities enrolled in the MassHealth CommonHealth Buy-In program Medicaid Buy-In programs for children with disabilities have the potential to increase access to benefits while reducing out-of-pocket costs for families whose income exceeds Medicaid eligibility. Data suggests that CommonHealth, Massachusetts's Medicaid Buy-In program, improves access to care for children with disabilities by providing benefits that were limited in scope or unavailable through other insurance before enrollment and by making available services more affordable. Policy and administrative changes could improve the program and further increase access to care for children with complex, costly conditions. The Massachusetts Buy-In  program could also serve as a model for other states.

Read the article in the Journal of Child Health Care

Technical Assistance Impact

14 Technical Assistance Requests From 9 States The Catalyst Center assisted HRSA and state Title V staff, hospitals, family advocates, and journalists with a variety of requests related to topics such as Medicaid, private insurance mandates, family medical leave, data/statistics questions, and more. In a recent impact assessment, a majority of respondents said they found our technical assistance/resources useful for:  Increasing their understanding of the causes of health insurance and financing inequities among CYSHCN Identifying best practices for overcoming health insurance and financing inequities for CYSHCN Assisting families in applying for health insurance Seven respondents reported that the Catalyst Center assistance and resources resulted in a new financing strategy for their organization or state, or a new best practice, which contributed to more coverage for kids, payments for additional services, capacity to promote adequate financing or care, or overcoming health insurance inequity .

Thank You to Our Partners

Through a range of activities — from serving on boards to providing technical assistance services to collaborating on training opportunities — Catalyst Center is proud to work alongside numerous organizations that advance care for CYSHCN. Got Transition National Resource Center for Patient/Family-Centered Medical Home National Academy for State Health Policy National MCH Workforce Development Center at UNC/Chapel Hill Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs  Family Voices Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs National Research Network Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health

This project (U1TMC31757) is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $500,000, with no financing by nongovernmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government; HRSA Project Officer Sarah Beth McLellan.

Catalyst Center A project of the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health at Boston University School of Social Work  catalystctr.org cyshcn@bu.edu