Maternal and Child Health Resource Repository

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has approved Arizona’s plan to allow new enrollment in the Children’s Health Insurance Program. “Today’s approval is a step forward for the health of Arizona children in low-income families,” said Vikki Wachino, CMS deputy administrator and director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services.

Health care providers and other stakeholders may email questions and concerns regarding the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ final rule applying certain provisions of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 to Medicaid managed care organizations, Medicaid alternative benefit plans and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to parity@cms.hhs.gov, the agency announced yesterday. The rule was issued in late March.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today proposed changes to the Payment Error Rate Measurement and Medicaid Eligibility Quality Control programs to reflect how states adjudicate eligibility for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program under the Affordable Care Act. The proposed rule will be published in the June 22 Federal Register with comments accepted for 60 days.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday awarded $32 million in grants to find and enroll eligible children in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this afternoon issued its long awaited final rule on Medicaid managed care; the first major update in more than a decade. The final rule tracks closely to the proposed rule and would provide new standards for managed care provider networks, quality measures, external quality review, and beneficiary rights and protections.

Appropriate use of antibiotics to prevent surgical site infections varies substantially across children’s hospitals, according to a study reported today in JAMA Pediatrics. Based on a review of administrative data from 31 freestanding children’s hospitals between 2010 and 2013, appropriate use of surgical antibiotic prophylaxis varied by hospital from 47.3% to 84.4%.

Nearly 15 million people enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program between Oct. 1, 2013 and Jan. 31, 2016, increasing total enrollment in the programs by 26.5% since the start of the first open enrollment period for the Health Insurance Marketplace, according to a report released today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Challenge: Nebraska Methodist Health

Almost 28% of uninsured U.S. residents under age 65 are eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, while 21% are eligible for premium tax credits through the Health Insurance Marketplaces, according to a new report by the Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The findings are based on March 2015 data from the Current Population Survey.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today issued a final rule applying certain provisions of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 to Medicaid managed care organizations, Medicaid alternative benefit plans and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The MHPAEA requires group health plans that offer mental health or substance use disorder benefits to provide them at parity with their medical/surgical benefits.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee today voted 28-19 to approve the Common Sense Savings Act (H.R. 4725), legislation that would cut $30 billion in funding over 10 years from state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs and the federal Prevention and Public Health fund. About $14 billion in cuts would come from eliminating the PPH Fund, while the impact of the Medicaid and CHIP changes would vary by state.

AHA letter to Senator Sherrod Brown expressing support for S. 2220, the Healthy Maternity and Obstetric Medicine Act or Healthy MOM Act.

Infant Related  CDC interim guidelines for U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday issued interim guidelines for U.S. health care providers caring for infants born to mothers who traveled or lived in an area with Zika virus transmission during their pregnancy.

Three states expanded Medicaid eligibility in 2015, and many states improved their Medicaid enrollment and renewal processes and coordination with Health Insurance Marketplaces, according to the latest annual survey by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families.

As we swing into the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW) reminds us to make our health a priority this season so we don’t give our loved ones the gift of the flu. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created NIVW as a national observance that highlights the importance of continuing influenza vaccination.

The AHA, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Children’s Hospital Association yesterday urged President Obama to fully fund the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education program at its authorized level of $300 million in the Department of Health and Human Services budget for fiscal year 2017. “The 56 freestanding children’s hospitals that receive CHGME funding train approximately half of all future pediatricians and the majority of all residents in pediatric subspecialties,” the organizations wrote.

AHA letter to Representative Katherine Clark expressing support for the Protecting Our Infants Act (S.799/H.R. 1462).