Superutilization of Child Welfare, Medicaid, and Other Services (Executive Summary)

Mathematica and Casey Family Programs have published the final report from a project linking child welfare and Medicaid data to conduct analyses to understand types of high service use and to identify factors predictive of high service use among children in foster care. The study identifies distinct types of high service users and how both child welfare and Medicaid data can be used to predict which children may be likely to experience high degrees of placement instability. The study was conducted in partnership with partners in two states—Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services and TennCare, and Florida’s Department of Children and Families, Agency for Health Care Administration, and Eckerd Kids. The goal of the project is to help child welfare, Medicaid and other service providing agencies better coordinate service delivery to prevent undesirable outcomes for children and to improve effectiveness and efficiency. Read the full report.