How Can Health Plans Improve Child Development Services?  

Medicaid managed care organizations can play a crucial role in improving the quality

of child development services by building partnerships with providers, families, public

agencies, and policy makers working to improve child health.

Examples of how plans can improve early child development services include:  

Educating providers about the benefits of using standardized screening tools.

Educating parents about developmental milestones and what to expect when their

child is due for a developmental screening.

Standardizing practices across a provider network (e.g., provider profiling to identi 

fy children due for screening, member education at the provider site, provider edu 

cation on available screening tools). 

Motivating providers to apply best administrative and clinical practices through

incentives or creative reimbursement. 

Partnering with local agencies to facilitate referral and linkages between medical

and community providers for their members. 

Using data to help providers identify children at risk for developmental delay. 

Plans participating in the BCAP Workgroup on Enhancing Child Development Services

in Medicaid Managed Care tested creative variations of these approaches. Several com 

mon factors essential for success emerged: 

Using a structured approach to design quality improvement interventions with

clear measures to monitor outcomes and test strategies; 

Improving multi stakeholder collaboration (purchaser, plan, provider, and mem 

ber); 

Providing sufficient time and backing to sustain successful rapid cycle improve 

ment; and

Ensuring committed leadership.

Health Plan Incentives to Improve Child Development Services

Capitated managed care, because of the inherent incentives in pre payment for pri 

mary and preventive care, offers a unique leverage point to drive effective delivery of

child development services.  Because so many children  churn  in and out of

Medicaid coverage, some of the benefits for identifying chronic problems early may

accrue to other payors and health plans. Health plans committed to this line of busi 

ness, however, realize that children are likely to  churn back  into their membership,

so it behooves all payors and plans to invest in preventive services.  Furthermore,

plans that promote quality improvement in child development services can reap

other rewards, including greater member and provider satisfaction, enhanced reputa 

tion in their communities, and recognition from their state Medicaid agency. 

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