California Healthline
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Say Ahhh! A Health Care Policy Blog
This year’s Super Blog-off had all the excitement of the Super Bowl with an early lead by one team, then a strong rally by another. In the end, the size and strength of California advocates led to a victory for Team California, with a final score of 122-65. But more importantly, both states should be congratulated for being winners in moving the ball forward on the Affordable Care Act.
California Healthline
"California's Medi-Cal dental system is already struggling to serve children and is unprepared for what's to come," said Wendy Lazarus, founder and co-president of The Children's Partnership. "California's kids deserve real access to quality dental care -- not a false promise of it," Lazarus said in a statement accompanying the recent issue brief, "Fix Medi-Cal Dental Coverage: Half of California's Kids Depend On It."
Download the full article here.
California Healthline
The Heathy Families transition started Jan. 1, moving 197,000 children to Medi-Cal managed care plans. So far, according to DHCS officials, the telephone complaint hotline has been pretty quiet. "That's what we're trying to assess right now," said Kristen Golden Testa, director of the California Health Program for The Children's Partnership. She said several provider groups are conducting surveys of their members to see what providers are experiencing, and that data hasn't come in yet. "I'm not sure I would rely on the call center and complaint lines because on the ground is where we'll hear it," she said.
Download the full article here.
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 31st 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.
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Huffington Post
Recent changes affecting California's dental care system could worsen access to dental care for hundreds of thousands of children. In this blog, Wendy Lazarus, Founder and Co-President of The Children's Partnership lays out an action plan to strengthen Medi-Cal's dental program for children. "The challenges laid out provide the opportunity for California to strengthen the system for everyone. It will require a lot of cooperation and political will to make these changes. TCP calls on the governor, legislators, and the public to ensure that California's most vulnerable kids will not be lost in the shuffle and left without the dental care they need," says Lazarus.
Our latest report on the dental crisis is available here.
California's Children, by HSMC
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New America Media
TCP released a report on the crisis faced by many families whose children depend on Medi-Cal for their dental care. Jenny Kattlove, the author of the issue brief, is TCP’s Director of Strategic Health Initiatives.
“The state has said that they feel there are enough dental providers, except for a few small counties … But, the program is not up to par. It can’t currently meet the needs of its enrollees, let alone those of a million new children,” Kattlove says.
Download the full article here.
California Healthline
TCP report, Fix Medi-Cal Dental Coverage, highlights that "children currently enrolled in Medi-Cal are not receiving needed dental care. According to the report, nearly half of beneficiaries under age 21 who are enrolled in Denti-Cal -- a Medi-Cal dental program -- did not receive a dental check-up or treatment in 2011. The report found that a major factor in the lack of dental care was that relatively few dentists accept Medi-Cal patients."
Download the full press clip here.
83.9 KPCC
California is facing a looming dental crisis as it prepares to transition nearly a million more youngsters into Medi-Cal’s already overburdened dental programs. “Currently, families are really struggling to access dental care for their families,” says Jenny Kattlove, author of the report, Fix Medi-Cal Dental Coverage. “Often times they have to wait months even just to get an appointment and/or they have to travel great distances to get care.”
Download the interview here.
To listen to the interview, link here.
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