Children With Special Health Care Needs

"A National Assessment of Children with Special Health Care Needs: Prevalence of Special Needs and Use of Health Care Services Among Children in the Military Health System." Thomas V. Williams, Eric M. Schone, Nancy D. Archibald, and Joseph W. Thompson. Pediatrics, August 2004. This study measured the prevalence and resource needs of children with special health care needs in the military health care system, finding that they compose 23 percent of the enrollees in the system who are younger than 18 years old. Most need prescription medications and medical, mental health, and educational services. These children experience 5 times as many admissions and 10 times as many days in hospitals, compared with their counterparts without special needs.

"Mental Health Services for Children with Special Health Care Needs in Commercial Managed Care, 1999-2001." Jennifer Humensky, Henry T. Ireys, Steve Wickstrom, and Paula Rheault, February 2004. Mental health care is an important component of comprehensive health insurance for children with special health care needs (CSHCN), who often have emotional and behavioral disorders as either a primary diagnosis or secondary to co-occurring physical conditions, sensory disabilities, or chronic illnesses. Analyzing administrative and claims data from CSHCN enrolled in two commercial managed care plans, the authors identified 37 percent of CSHCN as having an emotional or behavioral disorder in 2001, with the most common diagnosis being attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In addition, these children's parents pay for a substantial portion of the costs of services that their children use frequently, such as mental health care and prescription drugs.

Recommending Changes To WIC Food Packages

"Proposed Criteria for Selecting the WIC Food Packages." A preliminary report of the Committee to Review the WIC Food Packages, of which Barbara Devaney was a member, for the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, 2004. This report contains the initial findings of the committee charged with identifying the nutrients and food groups that should be given priority attention when changes are recommended in WIC food packages. The committee recommends that vegetables, fruits, and dairy products be given priority. The report also reviews nutrient intake, food groups being consumed, and health risks and outcomes of the WIC population and discusses specific nutritional inadequacies, using data from recent USDA surveys of the dietary intake of low-income women, infants, and children.

Covering The Uninsured

"Q&A: Covering the Uninsured Parents of Publicly Insured Children,” interview with Erin Taylor, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Special Report, August 2004. This interview, based on a September 2003 article in Health Affairs, highlights findings from a study conducted jointly by the University of Michigan and Mathematica on the expansion of health insurance to parents of children enrolled in the Alameda County Family Care program in California. Researchers found that the program attracted a relatively broad cross section of parents, not just high-use, high-cost parents. Thus, SCHIP expansions to parents may actually cost less than some policymakers think they will. However, the current state budget climate has caused Family Care and similar expansion programs to scale back their efforts.