"Free Care" Policy 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.

Healthy Schools Campaign has launched the School Medicaid Database, a text-searchable collection of publicly available school Medicaid documents in all 50 states.

Healthy Schools Campaign is partnering with the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) to disseminate a toolkit designed for schools and school districts to help inform families about the steps they need to take to ensure children enrolled in Medicaid do not lose coverage.

The Healthy Schools Campaign School Medicaid Database is a text-searchable collection of publicly available documents pertaining to school Medicaid programs (as of 2022) in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Developed to assist state education agencies (SEAs) and state Medicaid administrators in creating resources to support school districts with expanding Medicaid reimbursement for school health services, the database features links to state Medicaid and education agency websites and to specific documents related to school Medicaid billing.

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.

In August 2022, the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released an informational bulletin, "Information on School-Based Services in Medicaid: Funding, Documentation and Expanding Services."

This brief highlights key points and suggests how school Medicaid stakeholders — including school districts and state Medicaid and education agencies — can use the bulletin to assess where they can strengthen their programs. The brief also provides a high-level overview of the bulletin's School-Based Health Services Checklist, which feature strategies and guidance to implement or enhance school-based health services.

Speaking at the HSPF Learning Collaborative bi-annual meeting in November, former CMS deputy administrator Vikki Wachino provided an update on federal policy encouraging states and school districts to expand access to Medicaid-funded school health services.

This brief details how a school Medicaid technical assistance (TA) center can play a key role in ensuring states and school districts have access to the support needed to implement, strengthen and expand their school Medicaid program to meet the needs of children and youth.

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.

The Healthy Students, Promising Futures Learning Collaborative came together for a two-day virtual meeting May 18-19. The meeting highlighted White House and Congressional efforts to strengthen the school Medicaid program — in part to address the growing mental health crisis affecting youth.

Expanding school Medicaid programs presents an important opportunity for states to support school districts in drawing down additional, sustainable federal Medicaid funding for school health services. Estimates suggest that states can expect to see significant increases in new federal resources. This brief includes five state examples.