This website is made available by The George Washington University for use by all payers, providers, and state and local health departments who are concerned with the health care of children. The module is for your use, both as a tool and a learning course, to help you write and negotiate contracts to ensure that children, particularly Medicaid and SCHIP children, receive quality care.

• The specifications were developed by the Center for Health Services Research and Policy (CHSRP) in GWâs Department of Health Policy in the School of Public Health and Health Services and the training module by Johnson Consulting Group and High Noon Communications.
   
• CHSRP receives financial support for managed care analytic studies and purchasing specifications from Federal agencies and private foundations, including the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Because of the variation in purchasers' and providers state programs, financing, policy preferences, and legal duties, there is no single correct method for covering and delivering care in managed care contracting.

• The purchasing specifications offer technical assistance and optional language that can be used either in their entirety or on an item-by-item basis and integrated into other purchasing documents.
   
• The specifications are available for those who want to write new contracts or revise, clarify, or add new language to their current contracts.

We hope that all of you will use this module to have a dialogue and communicate with those with whom you are negotiating contracts.

• Any comments or questions should be directed to colleens@gwu.edu.