U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Connecting Kids to Coverage

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services seeks applications for Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment (Cycle IV) grant funding. Grants awarded under the cooperative agreement will fund activities aimed at educating families to the availability of free or low-cost health coverage under Medicaid and CHIP, identifying children likely to be eligible for these programs, and assisting families with the application and renewal process. Grantees are also required to work with the Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign on two special initiatives each year.

Applicants should take these factors into consideration when designing proposals:

• To be most effective, outreach efforts should link families to direct enrollment and renewal assistance.
• Incorporating the use of online applications and renewals into outreach and enrollment activities can make the application and renewal process more efficient and consumer-friendly, helping families to successfully get coverage for their children and for eligible children to retain coverage.
• While the emphasis of the Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment Cooperative Agreement program (Cycle IV) remains focused on enrolling eligible children in Medicaid and CHIP, a large body of research finds that when eligible parents get enrolled in health insurance, their children are more likely to get enrolled and receive necessary preventive care. Appropriate messaging and strategies that help enroll eligible parents can also facilitate the enrollment of eligible children. Given that more than half the states and the District of Columbia have expanded their Medicaid programs to cover more low-income adults, more parents and other adults are eligible for Medicaid than ever before. This provides an important opportunity to take a two-generation approach, helping to enroll eligible parents as a means to getting more eligible children enrolled and improving the health and financial security of the family.
• Families often seek health insurance for their children at times when they are most attuned to needing health services for them, such as when they are sick or injured, need physical exams to enroll in school or summer programs, or need routine preventive care, including immunizations, vision and hearing tests, or asthma and allergy screenings. Organizations and institutions that provide such services – such as hospitals, health clinics, departments of health, and schools – are in a good position to conduct outreach and help families get their eligible children enrolled. They may also be more likely to have the infrastructure to sustain and track progress of outreach and enrollment efforts. Applicants that are not one of these types of organizations or institutions may wish to consider partnering with one or more of these entities.

Amount: $32,000,000 is available for awards ranging from $250,000 up to $1,000,000 each.

Eligibility: A state with an approved child health plan under this title [42 U.S.C. Section1397aa et seq.]; local government; an Indian tribe or tribal consortium, a tribal organization, an urban Indian organization receiving funds under title V of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1651 et seq.), or an Indian Health Service provider; a federal health safety net organization; a national, state, local, or community-based public or nonprofit private organization, including organizations that use community health workers or community-based doula programs; a faith-based organization or consortia, to the extent that a cooperative agreement awarded to such an entity is consistent with the requirements of Section 1955 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x-65) relating to a grant award to nongovernmental entities; and/or an elementary or secondary school.

Link: http://www.insurekidsnow.gov/professionals/funding/index.html

Note: A letter of intent to apply is required and due by December 16, 2015.

This post was filed under: