IMPORTANT: Look for your child’s Medicaid or CHIP renewal in the mail, complete it and mail it back immediately. They may be covered even if you’re not! Go to Medicaid.gov/renewals to find contact information for your state Medicaid office.

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Use the Campaign Web Badge to Promote Medicaid and CHIP in Email Signatures

June 25, 2014

Here are recent updates from the Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign:

  • Three New EPSDT Strategy Guides Now Available
  • Outreach Tip: Use the Campaign Web Badge to Promote Medicaid and CHIP in Email Signatures
  • Now Posted! Campaign Webinar on Enrolling Vulnerable Youth in Medicaid and CHIP
  • Save-the-Date: Next Webinar on July 17

Three New EPSDT Strategy Guides Now Available

CMS has published a trio of guides to support states in their work to implement Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT), the Medicaid benefit for children and adolescents. These guides are the result of several years of work in the Centers for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) and were inspired by state, federal and policy experts in the field of children's health participating in National EPSDT Improvement Workgroup discussions.

  • EPSDT – A Guide for States: Coverage in the Medicaid Benefit for Children and Adolescents – This guide provides an overview of the children's benefit and summarizes CMS policy on screenings, diagnostic services and treatment services. It also covers permissible limitations, medical necessity, and access topics. The intent of this guide is to bring together in one place for easy reference current CMS policy on EPSDT.
  • Keep Kids Smiling: Promoting Oral Health Through the Medicaid Benefit for Children & Adolescents – The second guide explains the dental and oral health dimensions of the EPSDT benefit, and explores a variety of specific ways states can, and have, improved their delivery of dental and oral health services to enrolled children.
  • Paving the Road to Good Health: Strategies for Increasing Medicaid Adolescent Well-Care Visits – The third guide shares a collection of approaches states can use to better engage adolescents in staying healthy and getting regular check-ups. We hope you find these guides to be helpful in your work.

CMS has also developed, in partnership with the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP), an EPSDT Compendium that is located on the NASHP website . This webpage features information about states' EPSDT implementation efforts across dimensions such as care coordination, behavioral health, data collection and reporting, oral health, medical necessity and improving access to care.

Outreach Tip: Use the Campaign Web Badge to Promote Medicaid and CHIP in Email

The Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign has developed tools to help spread the word about year-round enrollment through a variety of online channels. We've got social media graphics, sample tweets, web buttons and banners. You can use the web buttons to promote year-round enrollment in an email signature in Outlook. Here's what to do:

  1. Click on the web buttons link on the InsureKidsNow.gov Year-Round Enrollment resource page and select your desired button size from the folder.
  2. Once the .jpg file is open, right click to copy the file.
  3. Open Outlook. Click on the file tab, and then click on the options tab to open the "Outlook Options" pane.
  4. Click on the mail tab and then the "Signatures" button to open the "Signatures and Stationery" pane.
  5. Move your mouse to the location you would like and right click to paste the graphic.
  6. Once the image has been added to the signature panel, you can make it clickable and point to a specific URL.
    • Copy the following URL if you are working directly with consumers. This will lead them to the HealhCare.gov screener where they can find out if they may qualify for Medicaid or CHIP in a few clicks – https://www.HealthCare.gov/screener.
    • Copy the following URL if you are working with groups that are interested in conducting outreach. This will lead them to the National Campaign's main resource page which houses outreach materials-https://www.insurekidsnow.gov/library/index.html
    • Select the inserted graphic (you will see small black squares around the image frame) and click on the hyperlink image (globe with chain) and paste the URL from above into the address box in the "Insert Hyperlink" pane.
  7. Click on "ok" to save.

The Campaign also has "Think Teeth" web buttons available on the Oral Health resource page.

Now Posted! Campaign Webinar on Enrolling Vulnerable Youth in Medicaid and CHIP

Did you miss the May 22, 2014 webinar "Enrolling Vulnerable Youth in Medicaid and CHIP"? The webinar, exploring the special considerations for reaching vulnerable youth and featuring insight from experts on conducting outreach and enrollment to this population, is now available online. Visit the webinar page on InsureKidsNow.gov to view the Campaign webinar archive.

Save-the-Date: Next Webinar on July 17

Mark your calendar! The next Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign webinar will be held on July 17, 2014 from 3:00 to 4:15 p.m. EDT. The topic will be on "Medicaid and CHIP Outreach and Enrollment Considerations in Immigrant Communities". Additional details are forthcoming. Keep an eye out for the official invitation, including registration link.

We Want to Hear From You!

What Medicaid and CHIP enrollment activities do you have planned for the Back-to-School season? Please contact us at ConnectingKids@cms.hhs.gov or 1-855-313-KIDS (5437). We may feature your organization in a future Campaign Notes eNewsletter or webinar. Please also contact us with any questions about the webinar.

Stay Connected With the National Campaign – In 3 Easy Steps

  • Follow the Campaign on Twitter. Don't forget to re-tweet or share our messages with your network or use our #Enroll365 hashtag in your posts.
  • Share our materials widely. We have more than 50 National Campaign resources available, including translated print materials, to use in outreach and enrollment efforts.
  • 313-KIDS (5437).

The Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign Notes eNewsletter is distributed throughout the year and provides updates on National Campaign activities. If a friend or colleague forwarded this email to you, sign up to receive this eNewsletter directly to your inbox.