Behavioral Health Archive

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released new guidance this week that will make it easier for school districts to bill Medicaid for healthcare services – including mental healthcare – provided to students covered by Medicaid.

To assist Healthy Schools Campaign in advising states and stakeholders on how to strengthen Medicaid coverage of crisis services in schools, Aurrera Health Group conducted research on Medicaid coverage of school-based behavioral health and physical health crisis services in 11 states: Arkansas, Alaska, California, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, and North Carolina.

This memorandum describes Aurrera's findings from this research and provides recommendations for states seeking to establish or strengthen their coverage of crisis services.

Can Medicaid cover school-based behavioral and physical health crisis services – and if so, how? A new report by Aurrera Health Group considers the status of 11 states and provides policy recommendations for states seeking to establish or strengthen their coverage of crisis services.

As young people across the country experience unprecedented levels of mental and behavioral health needs, it is important for states and school districts to understand the types of funding available to pay for appropriate services. This brief considers the circumstances under which school districts can bill their state Medicaid program for sudden and acute mental health crises that students may experience.

In order to encourage school districts to maximize resources for school-based healthcare, state Medicaid programs must ensure that school healthcare providers are eligible for Medicaid reimbursement. That may sound simple, but there’s often a disconnect between the state education and state Medicaid agency’s licensing requirements and policies.

This policy brief explains how states can resolve identifying school health personnel as Medicaid-qualified providers and shows how six states improved alignment.

Healthy Schools Campaign has developed an interactive map on school Medicaid eligibility, billing and providers, and published a new report that can enable policymakers, school districts, advocates and others to better understand their state school Medicaid program, including its strengths and opportunities for improvement.

"State Medicaid & Education Standards for School Health Personnel: A 50-State Review of School Reimbursement Challenges" demonstrates how alignment between state Medicaid and education standards for school health personnel can reduce barriers to Medicaid reimbursement for school health services.

Prepared by Aurrera Health Group for Healthy Schools Campaign, the report analyzes data in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and outlines key recommendations for states to consider as they attempt to improve access to student health services covered by Medicaid.

Developed by the Council for Chief State School Officers, Healthy Schools Campaign and National Center for School Mental Health, this guidance highlights how state education agencies can use Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to support student and staff wellbeing and connection. It also explains how to leverage these one-time-only funds to access additional funding streams, such as Medicaid, to ensure efforts are sustained.

This guidance provides an essential roadmap for strategic and sustainable investment that can help advance student and staff wellbeing and connection for years to come.

Developed by AASA, FutureEd, Healthy Schools Campaign and Kaiser Permanente, this guidance offers concrete steps school districts can take to make data-informed decisions about investing COVID-relief funding to support student and staff health, including COVID-prevention, mental and physical health and well-being, social drivers of health, physical and health education, and family engagement and community involvement.

Key opportunities exist for education, healthcare and public health sectors to improve both health and education outcomes by focusing on school-based health services. This brief addresses the opportunity in Illinois to expand on Medicaid-funded health services delivered within a school by school nurses and other district-employed providers.

This case study provides an overview of the Children’s Regional Behavioral Health pilot project and highlights key lessons learned from this work. As states consider innovative methods for improving cross-sector collaboration, coordination of care and financing for school health services (especially behavioral health services), Washington’s model and experience provide valuable insights that can inform future efforts.

In April 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved California’s Medicaid state plan amendment, allowing school districts to access more federal funding for school-based health services. This report describes using this opportunity to increase access to services that help students heal from trauma — including the trauma caused by exposure to domestic violence and pervasive bias and crises such as COVID-19.