Monday, May 12, 2025
5/12/2025
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma FY23 Connecting Kids to Coverage - To address the ongoing national problem of uninsured Native American children within its 10,922-square-mile reservation, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma’s Health Service Authority (CNHSA) proposes to enroll 360 new eligible Native American children (120 per year) and renew 2,175 of those enrolled children who remain eligible for Medicaid or CHIP at annual renewal (725 per year). In addition to serving AIAN children, this project also proposes to enroll 495 new eligible parents (165 per year) and 720 pregnant women (240 per year) and to renew 765 parents (255 per year). To accomplish this, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma requests $999,999 in total funding. The CNO believes that the Tribe will be able to meet these enrollment and renewal goals with the benefit of federal funding and the following enhancements to our program: enhanced training and educational materials developed by CNHSA, the implementation of a new management structure, the addition of a second benefit coordinator, new outreach activities, more rigorous performance evaluation of project staff, and the improved capacity of the CNHSA system. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is strongly in need of a continued outreach and enrollment effort through the CKC program. The Tribal service area (TSA) has a high average rate of uninsured children (14.1%). This rate is 5.6 percentage points higher than the state’s average and 8.9 points higher than the national rate. In 2022, the Choctaw Nation Health Service Authority (CNHSA) identified more than 6,020 uninsured Native American children and 23,492 uninsured adults who received services at CNHSA facilities. In the TSA, the average percentage of children living below the poverty level is 26.4%, which is also higher than both the state and national averages. The poverty and extreme rurality of this large region affects access to transportation, phone service, and Internet coverage—all of which present significant enrollment challenges. CNHSA has maintained a data-sharing and enrollment agreement with the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) since 2010 that essentially makes CNHSA a proxy of the state’s enrollment strategy. This relationship provides CNHSA with access to the OHCA’s Agency View portal, which offers real-time enrollment, immediate access to eligibility verification, quality patient record security and superior data collection accuracy. This proposal directly addresses the high rates of uninsured children in the TSA through dedicated outreach field staff and strong collaboration across Tribal programs. If funded, Choctaw Nation’s CKC program will continue successful outreach activities, which include one-on-one enrollment support at Tribal events and community centers, enrollment support and education via phone calls, CKC advertisements, social media posts, and partnerships with associated programs such as WIC and our senior nutrition program. The highlight of our efforts is our outreach at CNO’s annual Labor Day Festival—the largest annual Choctaw gathering with an estimated overall attendance of 100,000. The current Connecting Kids to Coverage Program has already had a significant impact on our children needing insurance in the Choctaw Nation, and the continued success of the program is vital to the health and wellbeing of our reservation.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).