SEBELIUS AWARDS NEARLY $11 MILLION TO MARYLAND TO TEST INNOVATIONS IN CHILDREN'S HEALTH CARE
STATE WILL FORM PARTNERSHIP WITH GEORGIA AND WYOMING
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced a grant of almost $11 million to Maryland to improve health care quality and delivery systems for children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
The grant is part of $100 million in federal funds awarded to 10 states today as part of the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA). The funds will be awarded over a five-year period. Maryland will be awarded $2.4 million in the first year of a five-year grant totaling nearly $11 million.
“We all have a stake in the health of our nation’s children,” said Sebelius. “Exploring new technologies and initiatives will help ensure our kids get the high quality care they need and deserve.”
Maryland will work in coordination with Georgia and Wyoming to focus specifically on improving treatment outcomes—the quality and cost of care—for children with serious behavioral health needs. The three states will incorporate features of a model developed by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which had primarily been used with adults, to demonstrate its effectiveness with children and adolescents with serious mental health issues.
The grants are totally federally funded and are designed help establish a national quality system for children’s health care through Medicaid and CHIP. The money will help states implement and evaluate provider performance measures and utilize health information technologies such as pediatric electronic health records and other quality improvement initiatives.
“These grants will test the most current theories of how to improve the quality of care delivered to children,” said Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “These awards will help create the foundation for a more responsive and effective national framework of high quality healthcare for children.”
More information about children’s health coverage can be found at www.InsureKidsNow.gov.
Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news.
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