We keep you informed on the latest ideas in health policy. The Promising Practices Issue Brief series keeps you abreast of the latest issues that matter most to you and your constituents. Each Issue Brief focuses on a specific health policy topic and the solutions emerging from the state legislatures.

All files are in Adobe Acrobat and html format.

Click here to get Acrobat Reader .

Issue 1: (HTML)

Lead Screening for Children Enrolled in Medicaid: State Options (ACROBAT)

Each year, thousands of children are affected by lead poisoning. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 1991 and 1994, 4.4 percent¹ of children between the ages 1 and 6 had blood lead levels (BLLs) high enough to be considered dangerous. In fall 2000, the Forum for State Health Policy Leadership at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) conducted a national survey on state policies and practices for screening Medicaid-enrolled children for lead poisoning. (Appendix A contains the survey method.) This paper describes the seriousness of the issue, the difficulties involved in implementing screening programs, and results from the survey about state approaches to improving their screening practices.

Issue 2: (HTML)

Increasing Dentists' Participation in Medicaid and SCHIP (ACROBAT)

For many years, state and federal officials, providers and advocates have been very concerned about the difficulties faced by low-income families and children in obtaining dental care. Poor children are more than twice as likely as their more affluent peers to have dental caries, and their disease is more likely to go untreated. Untreated cavities cause a significant amount of pain to children and cause difficulty eating, playing and learning as well as many missed days of school. Low-income adults face similar problems with pain and limitations on daily activities and are more likely than those with higher incomes to lose permanent teeth and have untreated dental disease.

Issue 3: (HTML)

Community-Based Long-Term Care (ACROBAT)

Faced with increasing consumer demands and legal requirements such as the Supreme Court's Olmstead ruling, states are revamping their long-term care systems. Building on their experience with home and community-based care, states are creating innovative service delivery models that enable such services to respond more quickly and flexibly to the needs of older people and people with disabilities. Among these models are consumer directed care, managed long-term care and enhanced respite care. These three emerging models are discussed in this paper. The purpose of this brief is to provide background information on the financing and delivery of long-term care services and to give additional information about three emerging and promising practices.