Children’s Health: Health Affairs’ December Issue

The December issue of Health Affairs includes a number of studies examining current threats to the health and health care of America’s children, and what can be done to meet the needs of children within an ever-evolving health care system. Some of the subjects covered: the role of Medicaid in reducing early-term elective deliveries; how pediatric services are covered in the state insurance Marketplaces; Medicaid spending on children with complex medical conditions; and the effect of abuse and neglect on children’s health and school engagement. This issue of Health Affairs is supported by The W.K. Kellogg Foundation as well as by the Children’s Hospital Association, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Nemours, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and The Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative. What role do state Medicaid programs play in reducing the number of early-term elective deliveries? Tara Trudnak Fowler of Altarum Institute and coauthors studied the results of a project led by Medicaid medical directors that sought to coordinate quality improvement efforts related to early elective deliveries in the Medicaid population. The authors report that almost 9 percent of the 1.8 million-plus Medicaid births each year are early elective deliveries that result in a higher rate of neonate and neonatal intensive care unit admissions or transfers, compared to full-term elective deliveries. Furthermore, these deliveries add to morbidity rates and costs. Fowler and...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: All Categories Children Insurance Medicaid Nonmedical Determinants Policy Spending Source Type: blogs