************************************************************
Child Health Information Project
Children's Defense Fund
September 22, 2000
************************************************************
In this issue:

* MEDICAID STUDY HIGHLIGHTS VOICES OF TEXAS PARENTS

* MINORITY PEDIATRICIANS SEE MORE MINORITY PATIENTS

* HHS AWARDS GRANTS TO ELEVEN STATES TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO HEALTH INSURANCE

* NEW CLEARINGHOUSE ON CHILDREN AND FAMILY LAUNCHED
*********************************************************************
MEDICAID STUDY HIGHLIGHTS VOICES OF TEXAS PARENTS

September 20 - A new study released by the Center for Public Policy Priorities highlights Texas parents' experiences with Medicaid and calls for improvements in its eligibility policy and procedures.

The report, entitled "Every Child Equal: What Texas Parents Want from Children's Medicaid," combines updated Medicaid data and research with interviews and focus groups of parents' experiences with the Texas Medicaid program. While acknowledging the improvements that Texas has made in providing health coverage to children in low-income families, the report outlines several of the barriers parents have faced while applying for Medicaid for their children and suggests how the Texas Medicaid program can be more user-friendly.

To obtain copies of the report, call (512) 320-0222 or visit www.cppp.org .

Source: "Advocacy group: Texas Medicaid has long way to go," Connie Mabin, Associated Press, September 20, 2000.
********************************************************************
MINORITY PEDIATRICIANS SEE MORE MINORITY PATIENTS

September 18 - Minority pediatricians from groups that are underrepresented in medicine tend to see more minority and poor patients than their peers, according to a new report from the American Medical Association (AMA).

The report defines members of underrepresented minority groups (URM) as "African Americans, Native Americans and Mexican Americans, mainland Puerto  Ricans, and other Hispanics," while the non-underrepresented group (non-URM) includes "Asian or Pacific Islanders, commonwealth Puerto Ricans, and Whites." 

"Altogether, nearly two-thirds of the patients of URM pediatricians were minority children, and more than half were uninsured or enrolled in the Medicaid program," said Dr. Sarah E. Brotherton, one of the lead authors of the report.

Comparatively, close to forty percent of the patients of non-URM pediatricians were minority children, and almost the same percentage were either uninsured or enrolled in the Medicaid program, the authors found. 

The report is published in the September issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Source:"Minority Pediatricians See More Minority Patients," Reuters Health, www.reutershealth.com , September 18, 2000.
*********************************************************************
HHS AWARDS GRANTS TO ELEVEN STATES TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO HEALTH INSURANCE

September 22 - Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Donna Shalala announced that eleven states have received one-year federal grants totaling $13.6 million to develop plans for providing their uninsured citizens access to affordable health insurance.

Under the new State Planning Grants program, administered by HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), grantees from state agencies first will conduct studies to better identify the characteristics of uninsured citizens. The grantees -- from Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont and Wisconsin -- will then use that data to determine the most effective methods to provide high-quality, affordable health insurance to low-income families.

"We expect to receive some interesting and inventive models for covering the uninsured that will be very useful to other states and the nation as a whole," said HRSA administrator Claude Earl Fox, MD, MPH.

These state planning grants complement another recently announced HHS grants program -- the Community Access Program (CAP) that awarded $22 million in grants to 23 communities to help local health providers develop integrated service delivery networks offering uninsured individuals a full range of health care services.

The communities who received grants in this program were located in: Alaska, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Background information on the State Planning Grants program is available on the Web at www.hrsa.gov/stateplanning .

Source: HRSA Press Release, www.hrsa.gov , September 22, 2000.
*******************************************************************
NEW CLEARINGHOUSE ON CHILDREN AND FAMILY LAUNCHED

The Columbia University Institute for Child and Family Policy is pleased to announce the launching of a new website: http://www.childpolicyintl.org 

The Clearinghouse on International Developments in Child, Youth, and Family Policies provides cross-national, comparative information and linkages regarding the policies, programs, benefits and services available in the advanced industrialized countries to address child, youth and family needs. Initial coverage focuses on 22 of the Organization for Economic Development (OECD) countries and expansion to other countries and parts of the world is planned.

Initial funding provided by the W. T. Grant Foundation.
***********************************************************************
PLEASE FORWARD THE CHILD HEALTH INFORMATION PROJECT LISTSERV TO YOUR FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES!
************************************************************************

To subscribe to the Child Health Information Project Listserv, visit the Children's Defense Fund's website at: http://www.childrensdefense.org/listserv_chip.html 
and follow the directions at the bottom of the page.

Or, send the following message to majordomo@listbox.com :

subscribe cdfhealth

To unsubscribe from the listserv, revisit the website,
or send the following message to
majordomo@listbox.com :

unsubscribe cdfhealth


Questions? Please contact the Health Division of the Children's Defense Fund at: cdfhealth@childrensdefense.org 

**********************************************************************