Getting & Keeping Kids Covered

Washington State

CKF Collaborative

Team Members• Penny Reid, CKF Manager,

Washington Health Foundation• Annette Rodriquez, Outreach

Coordinator, Yakima Neighborhood Health Services

• Judy Cook, Medical Programs Manager, DSHS Medical Assistance Administration

• Vicki Hobbs, CSO Administrator, DSHS Economic Services Administration

Goal : Improve renewals for Medicaid kids in CSO 128 (Yakima region)

Program Diagnostic Activities to Date

• Renewal Survey of 60 families – Learned parents think they are over income and ineligible, so do not renew

• Problems identified by Eligibility Changes Workgroup –

1. Signatures required on apps and renewals 2. Renewal forms don’t ask for income verification

Percent of Terminations Related to Submitting Eligibility Review

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

F06 - Kid Med

F04 - Family Med

Closure of state-

funded Alien

programs

Auto-populated

Review

Income verifi cation

Statewide Data

Trends in the Percent Uninsured, all, children, and working-age adults,Washington State, 1993-2002

9.5%

12.2%

10.9%

8.4%

10.7%

12.9%13.3%

14.0%

11.4%

10.2%

11.4%

8.5%7.2%7.8%7.6%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

1993 1997 1998 2000 2002

UW HPAP; March 11, 2003 presentationData: 1993,1997 Robert Wood Johnson Surveys; 1998-2002, WA State Population Surveys.

M8: Caseload

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

Nov-02

Dec-02

J an-03

Feb-03

Mar-03

Apr-03

May-03

J un-03

J ul-03

Aug-03

Sep-03

Oct-03

Months

F06 Closures Verification CSO 128

0.0%

0.5%

1.0%

1.5%

2.0%

2.5%

3.0%

3.5%

Statewide Changes Implemented to Date

• Pre-populated renewal forms• TALX verifies pay from many employers• Active CKF coalition subcommittees: 1. Renewal Workgroup (WHF, YNHS, MAA, Children’s Alliance and others)

2. Eligibility Changes Workgroup (Above orgs plus ESA CSOs from all 6 regions)

Workgroup successes –

1. Insert in children’s medical ID card informing parents of income verification requirement in 9 languages to be mailed 12/23. Language requesting income verification will go on pre-populated renewal form starting April 2004.

2. Developed Verification Checklist now used in CSOs.

CSO 128 Changes Implemented

• Document Management System (DMS) – All documents are scanned, catalogued and available virtually to all Call Center workers (as of April 2003).

• Trac-It – A program that tracks all phone calls and allows for standardization of services and better tracking by all staff (as of July 2003).

Conclusions to Date

• During 2003, WA instituted many changes: rolled back eligibility period from 12 to 6 months; deleted continuous eligibility; and now requires income verification and signatures on applications and renewals. Earlier, eligibility processing moved from MAA to ESA CSOs and we anticipate premiums for all optional kids in 2004.

• Given budget constraints, the primary focus of our work must be on renewals. We will continue to make sure initial applications are processed as efficiently as possible and that the process is clear to clients. For the CKF Collaborative, we will focus on CSO 128.