Portals from EPSDT to Adult Supports

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Grant Information


Name of Grantee

District of Columbia, Department of Mental Health (DMH)

Title of Grant

Supporting Transitions for EPSDT Eligible Children in Foster Care with Mental Health Disorders in the District of Columbia

Type of Grant

Portals from EPSDT to Adult Supports

Amount of Grant

$499,649

Year Original Funding Received

2004

Contact Information


Shauna Spencer, Project Director
202-673-4443
Shauna.Spencer@dc.gov

Joyce White, Project Coordinator
Department of Mental Health
Child and Youth Services Division
64 New York Avenue, NE, 4th Floor
Washington, DC 20002
202-671-4035
Joyce.White@dc.gov

Subcontractor(s)

Irene Jillson
Georgetown University
School
of Nursing and Health Studies
202-687-1312
iaj@georgetown.edu

Steven Lutzky, President
HCBS Strategies, Inc.
202-558-2176
Steve@hcbs.org

Target Population(s)


Children in foster care with mental health issues, who are transitioning into adult mental health care.

Goals


  • Examine and refine current mechanisms for identifying and referring early and periodic screening, diagnosis, and treatment (EPSDT) children in foster care with mental health issues to ensure that they are referred to appropriate supportive services within and after they leave the foster care system.
  • Examine and refine current regulations, policies, and programs related to offering mental health assessment and supports to foster care children to identify gaps and eliminate duplicative service.

Activities


  • Review program regulations, policies, and procedures and recommend alterations to current protocols and/or the creation of new protocols to ensure that EPSDT children in foster care with mental health issues have access to mental health supports.
  • Assess actual and potential services looking at their standards of care, practices, protocols, policies, and data-sharing methods.
  • Based on systems assessment, identify provider training needs, legal/ethical impediments and safeguards to data sharing, efficient referral mechanisms, and service gaps for the identified population.
  • Design and implement monitoring tools and develop reports to establish continuous quality monitoring.

Abstract


The roughly 3,000 children in foster care in the District are at high risk of having mental health disorders. The District currently lacks mechanisms to assist these children to receive the supportive services they need as they age out of the foster care system. If these children do not receive mental health supports, they are dramatically more likely to experience homelessness, substance abuse, and criminal behavior. Although the District has made strides in improving mental health services for EPSDT-eligible children in foster care, the system is complex and lacks linkages to mental health services offered under the Medicaid Rehabilitation Option, locally known as Mental Health Rehabilitation Services (MHRS).

The Department of Mental Health (DMH) has worked closely with Children and Family Services Administration (CFSA) to redesign services to children in foster care and improve pathways for these children to access services as they age out of the program. Both agencies have recognized the pivotal role played by Medicaid in this endeavor. The grant will further this work toward reviewing current regulations and program operations for Medicaid-funded mental health services to improve coordination across the range of services and ensure that as foster care children with mental health disorders age out of the system, they are still able to access the supportive services they need.

Grant funds will be used to hire District staff to conduct much of the work of this initiative. Georgetown University will supply policy and programmatic guidance and will conduct a process evaluation of this major systems change effort. This grant represents the strong collaboration that has been formed as a result of CINGS (Children Inspired Now Gain Strength), the District's System of Care initiative being implemented by DMH, CFSA, Medical Assistance Administration (MAA), and other partner agencies. This collaboration among District government agencies, with strong consumer input, has made it possible to have dramatic and sustainable improvements in Medicaid services for foster care children with mental health disorders.