Issue Briefs

Health Reform and Adolescents
by Harriette B. Fox and Margaret A. McManus, June 2009
This issue brief documents the significant health risks and conditions of adolescents and the financing and delivery system barriers that affect their access to appropriate care. It urges Congress to consider coverage expansions under Medicaid and CHIP, benefit and payment improvements, grant programs to support interdisciplinary models of primary care, and funds to improve training for adolescent health providers.

Structuring Health Care Reform to Work for Adolescents
by Harriette Fox, Margaret McManus, Stephanie Limb, and John Schlitt, November 2008
This issue brief on health reform and adolescents examines four major themes for restructuring the health care financing and delivery system -- placing greater emphasis on prevention, redesigning primary care, changing payment incentives, and relying more on evidence-based care. For each topic, reform proposals are summarized, issues of concern to adolescents are reviewed, and new options for addressing adolescent needs are presented.

Preliminary Thoughts on Restructuring Medicaid to Promote Adolescent Health
by Harriette B. Fox, Stephanie J. Limb, and Margaret A. McManus, January 2007
This issue brief examines state Medicaid benefit and payment policies affecting adolescents and concludes that they are inadequate to support the type of care that adolescents require. It includes a proposal for an enhanced set of health promotion and primary care benefits designed specifically for adolescents that can be offered through EPSDT or as an alternative benefit package under the Deficit Reduction Act and suggestions for possible changes to payment policies to support comprehensive preventive and primary care service delivery for adolescents.