Quality Improvement Initiatives

Analysis of Utilization of Well Child Services

The Children’s Fund of Connecticut and the Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut (CHDI) have approved a strategic implementation plan to explore the engagement of commercial insurers in CHDI’s work underway with the Connecticut Department of Social Services and the HUSKY insurance program. This plan includes support for targeted strategies in primary care that, when implemented, will improve care and outcomes for children, and among other things, will ensure their readiness for school, efficient utilization of health and other services, and overall improved health status. The targeted strategies for which CHDI is currently seeking support include:

• Universal developmental screening at 9, 18, and 24 to 30 months of age.
  
• Reimbursement for care coordination services performed in the primary care setting.
  
• Expanded capacity of pediatric primary care to address behavioral health issues.

CCPC will document the current frequency of pediatric developmental screening comparing the utilization of primary care services of children insured through commercial payers, Medicaid, and self-pay in private practice settings. The results will be supplemented with data available from Connecticut Voices for Children and will be extrapolated to the full Connecticut population. This will provide a data driven understanding of the extent to which commercial insurers support the provision of primary care. CHDI will be in a stronger position to develop a strategy for engaging private insurers in expanding support of pediatric primary care.