Kentucky Strengthening Health Integration iN Education (KY SHINE) - Title: Kentucky Strengthening Health Integration iN Education (KY SHINE) With systemic inequalities in healthcare access and affordability among Kentucky’s most vulnerable children, the Kentucky Department of Medicaid Services (DMS) in partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), and the Lieutenant Governor’s Office seeks to enhance its capacity to provide expanded school-based Medicaid services (SBS). DMS recognizes the proliferated need to better address the physical, emotional, and social needs of Medicaid and CHIP-enrolled students. Over 638,000 children are enrolled in Kentucky public schools and 1 in 2 children in the state are covered under Medicaid. Kentucky expanded it school-based Medicaid program in 2019 through a state plan amendment (SPA). The SPA expanded school-based service coverage to all Medicaid- and CHIP- enrolled students beyond Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) requirements. While expanded coverage is now available to all Medicaid/CHIP enrolled children, not all local education agencies (LEAs) take advantage of the benefit. This is due to limited understanding of billing requirements for expanded services and staffing shortages. As a result, Medicaid- and CHIP- enrolled students still experience access barriers to necessary healthcare services. A recent Kentucky Behavioral Health Needs Assessment revealed that 69% of respondents in behavioral health and primary care believed that adolescents between ages 13 through 19 were least likely to receive needed mental health and substance use services and supports, followed by age 6-9 with 46% of responses. The school environment serves as a primary setting for identifying, addressing, and supporting the behavioral health needs of students as it is where they spend a significant portion of their time and where many behavioral health issues may initially manifest. KY SHINE seeks to close the gap in care and meet the increasing demands for behavioral health services for our most vulnerable children. DMS, KDE and the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, are committed to enhancing Kentucky’s school-based Medicaid program through KY SHINE by: 1) implementing a targeted staff recruitment and hiring strategy to increase the number of clinical and administrative staff to fulfill the goals of Expanded Access and address behavioral healthcare needs; 2) creating the SHINE Grant Program, which will provide $100,000 to 7 awardees to support integration and evaluation of enhanced behavioral health services in a school setting, and identification of best practices for expansion; 3) developing a training and capacity building program to increase awareness and understanding of Expanded Access services and billing practices; 4) supporting outreach and community engagement to increase parental, family, and community involvement and develop community support networks outside of the school setting; 5) enhancing physical and technology infrastructure to support delivery of confidential services within a school setting, expand access to services through telehealth, and streamline administrative and clinical data sharing; and 6) focusing on sustainability planning and programmatic evaluation. Total Federal Cost: $2,500,000
