Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(formerly the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA(now known as CMS)))

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is currently overseeing a five-year, multi-part evaluation contract with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR). The evaluation includes a synthesis of states’ required SCHIP evaluation and annual reports to CMS, and a review and synthesis of the research on key issues in SCHIP, presented in a report to Congress in December 2002.

In a second phase of the study, MPR will analyze changes in the number and characteristics of uninsured children, primarily using data from the Current Population Survey and the National Health Interview Survey. The contractor will also analyze enrollment, expenditures, and service use in Medicaid and SCHIP, using states’ data files. The relationship between program design and these outcome variables is of particular policy interest. Finally, MPR will conduct case studies in eight states. http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/3rdLevel/schip2.htm

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

AHRQ, in collaboration with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and The David and Lucille Packard Foundation, has sponsored the Child Health Insurance Research Initiative (CHIRI™) http://www.ahrq.gov/about/cods/chiri.htm. The CHIRI project is funding nine separate studies, seven of which are looking at state-specific SCHIP programs and issues. The primary focus, across all nine studies, is the question of which health insurance and delivery features work best for low-income children, particularly minority children and those with special health care needs.

Results from CHIRI™ will aid in understanding how to improve health care for vulnerable children, including children who remain uninsured, and how to improve the institutions that serve them. The goal of the initiative is to inform policy making that bears on SCHIP, Medicaid, and other state-funded and locally funded health insurance programs.

Search Further [No longer maintained]