DCL-05-10, Increased Medical Support for Children through Child Support Enforcement (IV-D), Medicaid (XIX), State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Child Welfare (IV-E) Program Collaboration

DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER

DCL-05-10

DATE: March 15, 2005

TO: All State IV-D Program Directors

RE: Increased Medical Support for Children through Child Support Enforcement (IV-D), Medicaid (XIX), State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Child Welfare (IV-E) Program Collaboration

Dear Colleague:

This letter is to urge your participation in regional-level state Medicaid (XIX), State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Child Welfare (IV-E) and Child Support Enforcement program meetings. ACF Regional Offices will be contacting you to plan an agenda that will be mutually beneficial to XIX, SCHIP, IV-E and IV-D agencies. The meetings are scheduled on the following dates:

Region V/VII on May 11 & 12 in Kansas City, MO
Region IV on June 14 & 15 in Charleston, SC
Region I/II/III on July 12 & 13 in Boston, MA
Region VIII/IX/X on July 19 & 20 in Reno, NV
Region VI on July 19 in Little Rock, AR

The Child Support Enforcement community recognizes that it has a unique role to play in increasing the extent to which children receive medical coverage. However, state Child Support efforts cannot succeed without close collaboration with their Medicaid, SCHIP and Child Welfare counterparts. In the National Child Support Enforcement Strategic Plan for FY2005-2009, securing medical coverage for children is a stand-alone goal, articulated both in terms of establishing support orders with a medical support component and in actually securing health coverage. Our medical support efforts should aim not only at gaining coverage, but also at placing the financial responsibility for that coverage with the family, not the taxpayer, to the greatest extent possible. This has the potential to be of significant benefit to the many states struggling with their Medicaid budgets.

The Plan recognizes the need for active cooperation of other components of Federal, state, and local government, including XIX and SCHIP programs. We believe that increased collaboration among XIX, SCHIP, IV-E and IV-D programs will be of benefit to all four programs, as well as to families and children.

The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement has made improving state performance in medical support activities, and securing data needed to assess that performance, a priority for the coming year. To that end, our Regional Offices will convene a series of meetings with our state partners to identify data sharing, data matching, and case information exchange as well as a possible plan to guide our collaboration into the future that would be beneficial to XIX, SCHIP, IV-E and IV-D programs and the families they serve. These meetings will be Federally-funded and orchestrated by ACF Regional Offices, alone or in collaboration with other Regional Offices.

I urge you to participate in these meetings to determine the best way to maximize the benefits to children and to states of successful medical support enforcement activities.

Sincerely yours,

David H. Siegel
Acting Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement

cc: Regional Program Managers