RECOMMENDATIONS to improve the lives of children and adolescents with behavioral health disorders

 

*	EXPAND COVERAGE.
	Provide access to care through non-discriminatory coverage of behavioral health disorders. Enroll all eligible children in the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Enhance state Medicaid programs to meet the needs of youngsters with behavioral health problems.
*	IMPROVE COORDINATION OF CARE.
	Work to overcome fragmented systems of care. Encourage comprehensive, multi-agency systems of care and agreements that provide individualized services in a child-centered and family-sensitive manner. Reflect commitment to coordinated care through 1) resource allocations; 2) operational policies and regulations; 3) budget priorities; 4) financing policies; and 5) administrative mechanisms. Improve services to young people in the juvenile justice system who have behavioral health disorders. Develop school-based programs to help identify and assist young people with behavioral health disorders. Coordinate behavioral health and child welfare services. Fight inflexible funding streams.
*	PROVIDE FAIR FUNDING.
	Value children. Invest in their future by providing adequate payment for needed services today. To improve policy and resources available for children's behavioral health, encourage ongoing data collection on prevalence and costs of conditions and services specific to children and youth.

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For more information,
see Enhancing Youth Services by the Lewin Group
for the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems
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