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Medicaid Contract Purchasing Specifications

User Guide for Delivery of Services for Adolescents1

The sample purchasing specifications include numerous provisions addressing a wide range of issues for Medicaid-eligible children and adolescents. The review process focused on specific policies for adolescents, including confidentiality protections and services for adolescents. The following provisions may be of particular interest to purchasers interested in issues around the delivery of services for adolescents. The provisions are listed in alphabetical order.

Access Standards

§604 relates to ways purchasers can encourage MCOs to promote access to enrolled adolescents and ways of measuring such access.

Bright Futures

Coverage Determinations: §101A(a)(7) of Part 1A relates to the application of Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents in the making of coverage determinations with respect to an enrolled adolescent.

Guidelines: §006(a)(1)(A) of the Overview specifies Bright Futures as one of the guidelines Purchasers may wish Contractor to follow in delivering covered items and services to enrolled adolescents.

Quality Measurement and Improvement Program: §802(b)(2)(C) of Part 8 relates to the use of Bright Futures in the conduct of compliance reviews.

Utilization Review: §805(a)(2) of Part 8 relates to the use of Bright Futures in Contractor's utilization review policies and procedures.

Confidentiality Protections

§1002(b) of Part 10 relates to confidentiality protections for enrolled adolescents. Information about an enrolled adolescent should not be disclosed except if required by law or to avoid imminent harm to the adolescent.

§1401(b) relates to confidentiality protections for enrolled adolescents in furnishing anticipatory guidance.

Coverage Determinations

Qualified Providers: §102A(f)(2) of Part 1A relates to personnel qualified to make coverage determinations in the case of an enrolled adolescent.

Definition

§014(a) and 1401(a) define adolescent as a child age 11 through 20.

Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services (GAPS)

Coverage Determinations: §101A(a)(7) of Part 1A relates to the application of Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services (GAPS) in the making of coverage determinations with respect to an enrolled adolescent.

Guidelines: §006(a)(1)(B) of the Overview specifies GAPS as one of the guidelines Purchasers may wish Contractor to follow in delivering covered items and services to enrolled adolescents.

Quality Measurement and Improvement Program: §802(b)(2)(C) of Part 8 relates to the use of GAPS in the conduct of compliance reviews.

Utilization Review: §805(a)(2) of Part 8 relates to the use of GAPS in Contractor's utilization review policies and procedures.

Enrollment

Information: §303 of Part 3 relates to Contractor's duty to provide a pamphlet to each enrolled adolescent that includes information on confidentiality protections, self-referral policies and procedures, and other information of specific interest to adolescents.

Disenrollment: §401(d)(2) and §401(e)(2) of Part 4 relate to an enrolled adolescent's disenrollment right for inaccurate provider information or no appropriate provider in Contractor's provider network.

Prior Authorization

§103A(d)(5), (6), (11), and (13) of Part 1A relates to the exclusion from prior authorization for family planning, STD, and HIV services and for an examination to determine physical or sexual abuse.

Quality Measurement and Improvement Program

Clinical Study: §803(a)(7) and (8) of Part 8 and §905(b) of Part 9 relate to Contractor's duty to conduct a study to assess the quality of family planning services and EPSDT services furnished to enrolled adolescents.

School-based Providers

Network Participation: §507 of Part 5 relates to the participation of school-based health and related service providers in Contractor's provider network and referral arrangements to school-based health centers.

MOU: §706(b)(2) of Part 7 relates to the financial and administrative responsibilities enumerated in a memorandum of understanding regarding the furnishing of covered services by the state educational agency or the Part C Lead agency.

Services for Adolescents

Family Planning Services: §104 of Part 1 relates to the scope of benefit for family planning services and supplies covered under this purchasing agreement.

Preventive Services: §102B of Part 1B relates to delivery of EPSDT screens, preventive services, and counseling to enrolled adolescents.

§005(f)(1) of the Overview relates to the right to self-referral for certain public health services, including family planning, from any provider.

§005(g)(1) of the Overview relates to the right to self-referral for covered items and services from any school-based health center.

§104A of Part 1A relates to self-referral by an enrolled adolescent for family planning, STD, and dental services to a provider in Contractor's network without prior authorization.


Endnotes

  1. See also Improving and Adolescent Health: An Analysis and Synthesis of Health Policy Recommendations by the National Adolescent Health Information Center (http://www.nahic@itsa.ucsf.edu) and the Society for Adolescent Medicine's Adolescent Health and Managed Care Information Packet by calling 312-464-4538 or through e-mail at socadmed@gvi.net.