Reports & Policy Briefs Archive

Healthy Schools Campaign has launched a new website section that offers resources, state strategies and federal funding opportunities addressing the shortage of school healthcare professionals and the need for a diversified health workforce.

As of October 2023, Healthy Schools Campaign has identified 25 states that have expanded their school Medicaid program to cover services outside of an IEP/IFSP using the “free care” policy reversal.

In May 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released new school Medicaid guidance affirming that states have flexibility in their school-based Medicaid program to allow school districts to bill Medicaid for health services delivered to all Medicaid-enrolled children.

This brief answers key questions about the guidance and highlights what policymakers and advocates need to know — and how to get involved — to ensure states are best positioned to leverage federal opportunities increasing children's access to the services they need.

This memo summarizes new school Medicaid guidance released in May 2023 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and also draws from CMS’ August 2022 Informational Bulletin. It provides an initial assessment of how states could move forward to expand and enhance their school Medicaid programs.

This guidance makes clear that:
● All Medicaid-enrolled students can be covered for school-based health services.
● All medically necessary services, including preventive, physical, mental health and substance use disorder services can be covered in a school setting.
● States are able to support a wide range of providers in a school setting.
● Students covered by CHIP can be included in school Medicaid.

The School Medicaid Survey was developed to provide visibility into how each state sets up its school Medicaid program and to enable states to find programs that might be similar to theirs. The Survey includes information about school Medicaid expansion, billing and reimbursement, administrative claiming, state audits, random moment time studies, and more.

All 50 states plus the District of Columbia (D.C.) were invited to participate; a total of 38 states and D.C. responded. Information was provided by state Medicaid and state education agency staff between April and December of 2022.

This brief looks at five states that have expanded their school Medicaid program and have seen significant increases in new and sustainable federal funding.

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 partnered with Council of Chief State School Officers, National Center for School Mental Health, and other organizations from the Collaborative for Student Success to promote leveraging Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds as an important way to build the capacity of state and local education agencies to support wellbeing in schools.

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.