1.Conference Call To Address Retention A conference call, titled "Retention: Keeping Children Enrolled," focused on retaining children in CHIP and Medicaid. It is part of a series of child health calls sponsored by the Children's Defense Fund, Families USA, and the National Association of Child Advocates. Guest speakers included: Marilyn Ellwood of Mathematica Policy Research, who will talk about her research on enrollment patterns for children in Medicaid, including the level of turnover in Medicaid caseloads and the associated policy implications. Donna Cohen Ross of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, who will describe the results of a 50-state survey of redetermination procedures in Medicaid and CHIP and identify procedures that promote retention. Judy Solomon of the Children's Health Council in Hartford, Connecticut, who will discuss her organization's assessment of points where children are at risk of losing coverage, its recommendations and Connecticut's experience with 12-month continuous eligibility. 2. Adolescents and CHIP: Healthy Options for Meeting the Needs of Teens The National Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs recommends strategies to improve teen enrollment in state CHIP programs--including developing outreach materials directed to teens, positioning eligibility workers in areas where teens congregate, like schools and community centers, and training hotline operators to answer the questions that teens most often pose. Call the National Maternal and Child Health Clearinghouse at 703-356-1964 for a copy. 3. Physicians Specializing in Adolescent Health Care Echo Recommendations They call for more proactive efforts by the medical community to reach out to teenagers, including allowing teens to enroll themselves in State Children's Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) and bypass gatekeepers when seeking access to adolescent specialists and school-based services. (The Journal of the American Medical Association: 2000;283:2101-2102), 4. Medicaid and CHIP: Comparisons of Outreach, Enrollment Practices, and Benefits A new report from the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) comparing outreach strategies for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has been released. The report finds that outreach strategies for Medicaid and CHIP are similar but they differ in the way they enroll eligible children and in the scope of the benefits they offer. The results were based on information from ten states. The report also finds that "...half the states surveyed required more documentation for Medicaid than CHIP, and states often required more documentation for Medicaid than was federally required." The report is now available at http://www.gao.gov under "Today's Reports, May 3, 2000." Hard copies are available by calling 202-512-6000. 5. Get Your Inaugural Edition of "Sign Them Up! A Quarterly Newsletter on Chilcren's Health Insurance Programs" The Children's Defense Fund's Health Division has free copies available of "Sign Them Up! A Quarterly Newsletter on Children's Health Insurance Programs (CHIP)." The inaugural edition focuses on the key role the child care community plays in outreach for Medicaid and CHIP. The newsletter highlights childcare partners that are helping to spread the word about the availability of health insurance for children, such as the YMCA, Head Start, resource and referral agencies, and Child and Adult Care Food Programs. The newsletter also contains: * 10 Ways to Help Enroll Children in Medicaid and CHIP * National News * Reports From Across the Country * Valuable Resources of Information If you would like to request a copy of the inaugural edition of "Sign Them Up! A Quarterly Newsletter on Children's Health Insurance Programs," please contact Lisa Frank at 202-662-3645 or email lfrank@childrensdefense.org. When requesting a newsletter, please include: Name, Organization, Address, Phone Number, and Email Address.