Publications > Medicaid Managed Care for Children in Foster Care

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New York State is continuing to move high-cost Medicaid populations out of fee-for-service arrangements and into care management, to improve quality and lower costs. This report examines one such group of high-need Medicaid beneficiaries: children in foster care.

Children in foster care in New York State use mental health services at a rate 15 to 20 times higher than the general pediatric population. In addition, approximately 60 percent of children in foster care have a chronic medical condition. In New York, the average annual Medicaid spending per child in foster care is about four times the average annual spending on each non-disabled child who is not in foster care.

This report from the Medicaid Institute at United Hospital Fund examines three possible models for implementing managed care for children in foster care, and their implications for key issues: coordination among health care providers and the agencies that provide a broad range of support services; data sharing among providers, agencies, plans, and the government; the role of foster care agencies themselves; and the coordination of physical and behavioral health care services.