Press Release

The Children's Partnership is pleased to announe that Beth Morrow, Director of Health IT Initiatives, is joining the  Consumer Empowerment Workgroup (CEWG) of the Health IT Policy Committee (HITPC). The newly formed Consumer Empowerment Workgroup’s charge is to provide recommendations on policy issues and opportunities for strengthening the ability of consumers, patients, and lay caregivers to manage health and health care for themselves or others.  Download the full statement here. 

The Children''s Partnership joins a coalition of child advocates to ensure that children with autism do not lose access to critical behavioral health services after their transition from Healthy Families to Medi-Cal. “The state needs to address this urgent situation immediately and ensure children in Medi-Cal receive medically necessary behavioral health therapies,” said Wendy Lazarus, Founder & Co-President of The Children’s Partnership. “Because of this serious problem, the state should not move forward with any future phases of the Healthy Families transition until the issue is resolved and continuity of care can be assured.”

Download the full press release here. (pdf)

The Children's Partnership and SPARC co-released Electronic Information Exchange: Elements that Matter for Children in Foster Care, an issue brief that lays out the case for investing in systems that enable electronic information exchange for children and youth in foster care, reviews existing efforts underway in states and communities, identifies specific elements that serve this population most effectively, and discusses steps that state advocates can take to establish an integrated electronic record of care for foster children and youth in their state.

The Children’s Partnership and SPARC will be hosting an webinar on Thursday, January 31^st at 2:00pm EST. Speakers will include Beth Morrow, Director of Health IT Initiatives at The Children’s Partnership, author of the issue brief. 

You can register for the webinar here.

Santa Monica, CA– Today, The Children’s Partnership released an issue brief and action plan addressing the challenges Medi-Cal faces in providing dental care to children in California. The issue brief, Fix Medi-Cal Dental Coverage: Half of California Kids Depend On It, also stresses the impact that newly enrolled children will have on the state’s strained dental care system. “California’s Medi-Cal dental system is already struggling to serve children and is unprepared for what’s to come,” said Wendy Lazarus, Founder & Co-President of The Children’s Partnership. “California’s kids deserve real access to quality dental care—not a false promise of it.” The brief highlights the challenges facing Medi-Cal in providing dental care to children, examines the State’s efforts to address these problems, and provides an action plan to help the program serve its growing number of enrollees. 

Download the full press statement here .