Project Description:
The Center for Disabilities and Development (CDD) at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics contracts with Iowa Medicaid Enterprise to provide information and referral services, training and practice consultation for health care providers about the Early and Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) Care for Kids program for children. EPSDT Care for Kids is Iowa's federally mandated Medicaid program for children. Through this program, children and youth from birth to age 21, who are eligible for Medicaid, receive health care that promotes their physical, mental, social, emotional and behavioral well-being. CDD supports a core team that includes a developmental pediatrician, two general pediatricians, a family physician, and two nurses, one who is a nurse practitioner. All currently practice in the state of Iowa. When other expertise is needed on a certain topic, additional practitioners are brought in to assist with the development and review of materials.
CDD EPSDT also convenes a statewide interagency stakeholder workgroup to support the program. This group includes representatives from Iowa Medicaid Enterprise and the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH). Those from IDPH represent the Bureau of Family Health, Bureau of Oral Health, and the 1st Five Healthy Mental Development Initiative. In addition, the CDD EPSDT team works with the states Title V program, the Child Health Specialty Clinics. This year, the Iowa Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics joined the stakeholders workgroup, along with the Child & Family Policy Center of Iowa. The CDD team takes the lead in getting updated information on evidence-based practices to EPSDT providers to assure the success of Iowa's Care for Kids program in providing health care for children from disadvantaged circumstances.
Specifically, CDD: 1) updates the Iowa EPSDT Periodicity Schedule annually; 2) develops materials for Iowa Medicaid to use with EPSDT health care providers and program participants; 3) trains pre-service and practicing health care professionals about EPSDT, and about the screenings and procedures required for EPSDT exams, 4) responds to health care provider requests for information and/or consultation about the EPSDT program, 4) maintains a health care provider website for information dissemination and referral, and 5) develops a newsletter for health care providers, which is published and distributed three times a year.
The Iowa EPSDT Care for Kids Periodicity Schedule is the core of the EPSDT program. It provides a one-page summary of the ages at which recommended health screening services are to be provided as a child grows, including annual exams, and developmental and mental health care. These guidelines are based upon Bright Futures, Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents, 4th Edition, adopted by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and supported by Iowa's Chapter of the AAP.
The Periodicity Schedule also serves as the core of the EPSDT Care for Kids website (www.iowaepsdt.org). The site is a project of the Iowa Medicaid Enterprise, and is developed and maintained by the CDD EPSDT team. The recently revised Periodicity Schedule can be found on the website, along with archived issues of the program's newsletter, Iowa EPSDT Care for Kids.
