In addition to heeding the growing evidence of the need for early detection of devel 

opmental problems, plans joining the BCAP Workgroup on Enhancing Child

Development Services in Medicaid Managed Care reported a variety of reasons for partic 

ipating: 

1. Raise Performance Ratings: Plans that report to the National Committee for

Quality Assurance (NCQA) create performance report cards that are used by

Medicaid agencies when making contracting choices and by members when mak 

ing enrollment choices. Improving best practices around child development ser 

vices improves plan ratings for quality of care and also improves member satisfac 

tion.

2. Build Collaboration: Plans saw the workgroup as a vehicle to collaborate with

state agencies and enhance relationships with providers. For example, BlueCross

BlueShield of Tennessee presented the results of the pilot project to the TennCare

Bureau and the Tennessee Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which

contributed to a statewide revision of guidelines on early childhood screening.

3. Reach At Risk Populations: Focusing on improving child development services

provides an opportunity to connect with hard to reach populations. Lovelace

Health Plan of New Mexico partnered with the state correctional system to reach

children of parents in prison; ABC Health Plan of New York partnered with the

Urban Institute for Family Health to reach families in low income neighborhoods;

and Network Health of Massachusetts used the Visiting Nurse Association to reach

families in their homes.  

4. Avoid Disincentives: Some states deploy a disincentive or penalty for poor perfor 

mance. DC Chartered Health Plan, for example, sought to improve both the time 

liness and the quality of well child visits at their provider sites to avoid fines for

children who did not receive timely well child visits.

And finally, the overriding motive for the plans that joined the BCAP workgroup to

enhance child development services was to meet the needs of the children and fami 

lies they serve more effectively. The high interest level and outcomes of this work 

group indicate that health plans can serve as unique and important leverage points to

drive improvement of child development services. 

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