Spotlight: CHIP and Medicaid outreach
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The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced enrollment assisters and outreach workers to develop and implement new ways of engaging with current and potential enrollees.
Ensuring children have the health care coverage they need to receive preventive, dental, and mental health services on schedule is crucial. To that end, CMS has developed a social media toolkit for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicaid (PDF, 6.6 MB, 24 pp). The toolkit provides tips on how to reach key audiences, best practices for each social media platform, sample posts, and more.
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The Connecting Kids to Coverage campaign offers materials to remind families that children and adults who are eligible for Medicaid or CHIP can enroll at any time.
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CMS has developed tribal-specific, customizable Connecting Kids to Coverage campaign materials that can be obtained via the Tribal Products Ordering Page and used in your community for outreach and enrollment assistance efforts. The materials describe who may be eligible for Medicaid and CHIP, the valuable health care coverage benefits these programs provide, and how to apply. They also discuss specific protections for American Indian and Alaska Native applicants and beneficiaries and highlight the advantages of enrollment for families and the community.
Additionally, CMS recently hosted and recorded a webinar on continuing Medicaid and CHIP outreach during COVID-19. The webinar highlights the importance of creating opportunities for outreach and helping enrollment assisters understand eligibility verification flexibilities.
As noted in the webinar, outreach workers may want to consider partnering with food pantries, faith-based communities, libraries, and COVID-19 testing sites to distribute copies of the Children’s Health Checklist (PDF, 965 KB, 2 pp), the Dental Health for Children fact sheet (PDF, 931 KB, 2 pp), and other resources.
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Free mental health telehealth services for children in grades K–12
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The ongoing pandemic underscores telehealth’s important role in enabling people to access mental health services without in-person visits. Mental health services are just as important for children and adolescents as they are for adults.
Some providers may be interested in telehealth but not know how to implement it. That’s why the National American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network's K-12 School Initiative now offers a year’s worth of free telehealth mental health services to children and youth in grades K–12. The services will allow children and adolescents to connect via cell phone with counselors, therapists, or social workers.
Providers must have a computer, laptop, or cell phone to conduct virtual appointments. Interested providers who work in school or community health care programs for Native youth are encouraged to email teresa.brewington@uiowa.edu for more information.
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Tribal Epidemology Centers issue Year 2 Progress Report
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Tribal Epidemiology Centers (TECs) use culturally competent approaches to data collection, surveillance, and disease prevention to improve the health and well-being of tribal members.
In 2017, the TECs established the Public Health Infrastructure Program to help reduce disparities and risk for chronic diseases. The program’s recently issued Year 2 Progress Report (PDF, 2.1 MB, 42 pp) shares stories of progress in the following five areas:
• Workforce development
• Communication
• Technical assistance
• Sustainability
• Partnership
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Nominations sought for federal advisory committee
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The Office of Minority Health, Department of Health and Human Services, is seeking nominations for appointment to its Advisory Committee on Minority Health for calendar year 2021. The committee helps the deputy assistant secretary for minority health develop goals and specific program activities.
Experts in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) minority health issues who are not officers or employees of the federal government are eligible to fill the committee’s 3 AI/AN vacancies. Please submit nominations via email to samuel.wu@hhs.gov, with a copy to OMH-ACMH@hhs.gov, by 5 pm Eastern on March 4, 2021.
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Native American Congressional internships
Deadline: February 5, 2021
View the Congressional internship funding opportunity The Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy funds summer internships for American Indian and Alaska Native undergraduate, graduate, or law students who are committed to careers related to tribal public policy or supporting tribal communities.
The program places 12 interns in Senate, House, and federal agency offices to enhance understanding of how the U.S. government works with tribal nations. Interns will be expected to live and work in Washington, DC, from May 27–August 1, 2021.
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Some events may be cancelled, postponed, or held virtually as public health officials monitor COVID-19 safety measures during this time. Please check the events’ pages for updates on event status.
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Contact us
Do you have news to share? Send it to coveringic@kauffmaninc.com for possible inclusion in an upcoming newsletter. Contact us with other comments or feedback, too.
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About the newsletter
Covering Indian Country is published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Division of Tribal Affairs to share resources, success stories, and best practices with the people who connect tribal communities to health care coverage.
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