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CHAPTER VI: CHIP IN OHIO

History and Implementation
Ohio’s Medicaid program for children, called Healthy Start, is administered by the Ohio Department of Human Services (ODHS). When Title XXI was enacted, the state agency already had the necessary statutory and spending authority to expand Healthy Start.

After Congress passed Title XXI, Ohio submitted two amendments to its Medicaid State Plan as well as a CHIP Plan. Using Title XXI to cover uninsured children and Title XIX1 to provide wraparound services for under-insured children, Ohio developed a more comprehensive health insurance system. Since the State Legislature had already given ODHS statutory authority to expand Medicaid, there was little legislative debate on CHIP’s first phase. (See Figure 1).

Figure 1: Children Ineligible for
for CHIP2 Pass through for a Title XIX Eligibility Determination

When children who are under 150 percent FPL apply for health insurance, ODHS checks to determine if they have had access to private health coverage. All children who meet program eligibility and get coverage through Healthy Start are tracked and coded differently depending on their insurance status: Ohio is implementing its CHIP program in phases: Insert Figure 2 Here
 

Federal/State Financing

Current Enrollment Key Factors for Ohio’s Implementation
Outreach

State Approach
Ohio combines state and community-level outreach strategies. The 88 counties in the state have the opportunity to develop customized outreach plans while state-level efforts are also underway.

Key Players and Administration

Ohio Department of Human Services County Outreach

In order to obtain Federal funds for county-level outreach, counties were required to submit outreach plans to the state for approval.

Collaboration with Other Agencies
Ohio Family and Children First Council Department of Health Bureau for Children with Medical Handicaps Child Care Centers Provider Associations Ohio Churches Creating a Seamless Health Care System for Eligible Children

Presumptive Eligibility
Ohio offers presumptive eligibility only for newborns born to women already covered by Healthy Start. Ohio does have retroactive coverage for people eligible in the previous three months, but it does not begin until eligibility has been established.

Continuing Eligibility
Ohio has a six month re-determination cycle. However, significant changes in family income or household composition that occur must be reported, and may therefore affect eligibility.

Simplified Application and Eligibility Decisions

Funding for Outreach Advice for Other States
Crowd-out Prevention

State’s Response

Employer Buy-In
Ohio has no provision for an employer buy-in program at this time.

Data Collection and Evaluation

Data for Program Design

Data for Program Evaluation Other Data Collection Methods

Ohio Family Health Survey

Web Sites for More Information
For additional information visit their web site: http://www.state.oh.us/odhs/medicaid/
Appendix 1

Ohio Family Health Survey
Health Services Research and Quality Unit, Health Care Date Center, Office of Policy and Planning, Ohio Department of Health

Background
The General Assembly created the Ohio Health Care Data Center (Data Center) in House Bill 478. It was signed into law in January 1993. The Data Center exists to collect, analyze, and disseminate health care information. This survey is a critical component to the Data Center’s mission. The Data Center has requirements to determine the number of uninsured and underinsured persons in Ohio at the state and county level. It also has other mandates that require good health care information. The survey should provide this required baseline and descriptive information.

Additional impetus for this survey is the Administration’s needs for good information by which to make health care policy decision. In the past several years the pace of marketplace health care reforms has quickened. Moreover, discussions in Washington suggest that significant changes will occur in the administration of public health care programs, as well as the passage of some incremental health care reforms. Finally, the state is also looking at reworking how it administers public health care programs and regulates the private health care system.

These changes will produce intended and unintended consequences. However, without good baseline information, policy makers will be without an effective way to determine these changes. They will be unable to evaluate claims that individuals or groups raise about continuing needs, problems, or solutions. Therefore, the survey serves the purpose of providing Ohio with needed baseline data for monitoring the health care system.

Finally, Ohio’s Medicaid system is facing potentially significant changes. The Medicaid program needs good information about how its population and its system compare to others. This survey will provide the first comprehensive set of data to allow for such a comparison.

Purpose of the Survey
Development of baseline measures of health status, health coverage satisfaction with coverage, utilization of services, and access to care to allow for assessing existing health care trends, monitoring of the impacts of changes in the health care marketplace, and evaluating the impact of health care reforms.

Analysis on specific questions about Ohio’s uninsured population such as the estimated number of uninsured person in Ohio and by country, the reasons for being uninsured, the health status of the uninsured, the health care utilization of uninsured person, the existing costs of serving the uninsured, and the estimated level of unmet need;

Refinement and validation of estimates regarding the number of uninsured and underinsured persons in Ohio at the State and county level from state or national-level data and development of a mechanism for regular updates of this information.

Comparisons of the health status, access to care, utilization of service, and unmet health need patterns between the Medicaid, uninsured, and the commercially insured populations in Ohio;

Assessment of differences in these measures: health status, health coverage, unmet need, satisfaction with coverage, and with different health status levels;

Assessment of the relationship between behavioral risk factors and health care utilization, health care costs, and general health;

Measurement of the extent of movement and reason for a change in coverage source to another in the past year, whether from one employer-based plan to another, from uninsured to insured or vice versa, from Medicaid to insured or uninsured or vice versa.

Sources of Survey Questions
Many of the questions used on the survey were obtained from recognized sources. For example we are using the SF21 (Physical and Mental Health Summary Scales), modified National Health Interview Survey questions for utilization, Census questions for insurance status and demographics including industry and size of employer, and questions from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, for lifestyle factors.

Information that will be collected with the questions (* information only collected for adults)

Insurance Coverage

  1. Type and source of current insurance coverage

  2. Medicaid
    Medicare
    Employer/Union
    Self-insured
    Military or Veterans
    Other
  3. Previous type and source of insurance coverage if change in status during past 12 months
  4. Insurance coverage of specific benefits

  5. Medications
    Dental care
    Vision services
    Hearing services
    Mental health services
  6. Cost of insurance premium (employer/union based or self-insured)
  7. Number of weeks covered in past 12 months
  8. Change in type of insurance coverage in past 12 months
  9. Reasons for lack of insurance in past 12 months
  10. For currently uninsured last time had coverage
  11. Medicaid past or present, length of coverage
Satisfaction with health care coverage
  1. Ability to choose doctor
  2. Benefits covered
  3. Ability to get emergency medical care
  4. How much they have to pay for medical services
Utilization of health care services and satisfaction with used services
  1. Physician visits
  2. Emergency room visits
  3. Outpatient surgery
  4. Hospital admissions
  5. Dental visits
  6. Pap test*
  7. Mammogram*
  8. Physical exam or well baby check-up (children only)
Access to care
  1. Usual source of care
  2. Ability to see a specialist
Health status
  1. Overall health status
  2. Functional status*
  3. Mental health status*
  4. Chronic conditions
  5. Activities of daily living (ADL) for 65 and over*
Personnel behaviors
  1. Cigarette smoking (current, former, never)*
  2. Physical activity*
  3. Height and weight
Unmet health care needs
  1. While uninsured

  2. Major medical costs
    Delayed or avoided getting care
    Had problems getting care they needed
  3. Listing of problems getting health care such as medical, mental, or dental care. Respondent ask to include medications, equipment and supplies
Financial Burden
  1. How much family had to pay for medical care in past year (out of pocket costs)
Demographics
  1. Age
  2. Race
  3. Gender
  4. Hispanic Origin
  5. Employment (Industry, Class or worker, Size of employer, Hours work per week)*
  6. Family size
  7. Family income
  8. Martial status*
  9. County of Residence
  10. County of work (for policy holder)*
  11. Zip code
  12. Educational attainment*
Sample Size
The sample size is 12,400 households. One randomly selected adult will be interviewed from each household. If there are children residing in the household who are members of the selected adult’s family a child will be randomly selected. Information will be collected for 12,400 adults and approximately 4,100 children.

Over Sampling
Certain geographical areas and subgroups of the population will be over sampled to provide sufficient sample size for point estimates to be reasonably accurate. The areas and the subgroups are as follows:

Appalachian Region (5 counties)
(Adams, Belmont, Clermont, Jackson, Morgan)
Rural Farm Region (5 counties)
(Ashtabula, Dark, Huron, Logan, Putnam)
Inner City Areas
(Census tracks where proportion of population below the poverty level is 20% or greater)
Industrial Regions
(Proportion of persons 16 years and over employed in manufacturing industries is 30% or greater)
Metropolitan Areas (9 counties)
(Butler, Cuyahoga, Franklin, Lorain, Lucas, Hamilton, Montgomery, Summit, Stark)
African Americans
Hispanics
Asian/Pacific Islanders
Suburban Commuters (3 counties)
(Clark, Delaware, Lake)
Medicaid recipients
Uninsured persons
Who is conducting the Survey?
The Gallup Organization of Princeton, New Jersey obtained the contract to conduct the survey through an RFP using State Purchasing.

Who else is participating?
The Department of Human Services, Medicaid Policy Section (Lorin Ranbom) participated in the development of the RFP, selection of The Gallup Organization, development of the survey instrument, and is paying for part of the survey.

A Health Economist for the Ohio State University, in the School of Public Health (Gil Nestel) has assisted in the development of the survey and analysis of the results.

For additional information contact:
Dave Dorsky (614) 728-4738
Mary Plummer (614) 728-9579



1 - Title XIX is pre-CHIP Medicaid.
2 - Children with insurance
 
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