Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment Grant Opportunity and Important Information on Key Medicaid and CHIP Provisions of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012
We are pleased to announce that today the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a solicitation for applications for Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment Grants. These grants, funded under the Affordable Care Act, continue efforts to find and enroll eligible children in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that were initially funded under the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA). Past grant projects have demonstrated the creative use technology to enhance outreach efforts, sponsored successful enrollment telethons, incorporated Medicaid and CHIP sign-ups into school routines and much more. Outreach is one of the important factors behind the strong and improving children’s Medicaid/CHIP participation rate which, according to the Urban Institute, stands at 85.8 percent for the nation.
A total of $32 million is available for grants to states, local governments, community-based and non-profit organizations. Indian health care providers and tribal entities also are eligible to apply. (In addition, a separate funding opportunity exclusively for Indian health care providers and tribal entities will be made available for outreach and enrollment grants at a later time.)
Proposals are due on February 21, 2013, with grant award notification anticipated on June 1, 2013. Grants are expected to range in size from $250,000 to $1 million for a two-year period, beginning June 1, 2013 and ending May 31, 2015.
This round of grants (Cycle III) will support outreach strategies similar to those conducted in previous grant cycles, and also may be used to build community-based resources for assisting
families with the application process. Proposals should focus on one of the following five areas:
- Engaging schools in outreach, enrollment and retention activities;
- Bridging health coverage disparities by reaching out to subgroups of children that exhibit lower than average health coverage rates;
- Designing and executing targeted enrollment strategies to streamline health coverage enrollment for individuals participating in SNAP, WIC or other public benefit programs;
- Establishing and developing application assistance resources to provide high quality, reliable Medicaid/CHIP enrollment and renewal services in local communities; and
- Conducting training programs to equip communities to help families understand the new application and enrollment system and to deliver effective assistance to families with children eligible for Medicaid and CHIP.
The solicitation for the Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment Grants, which includes full instructions for how to apply, can be found at
http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=7HLcQrnbZzyKpyvgJkFVpggTRFhWRfxMrWCrdlHXmKWpNGppqZSC!-804278280?oppId=214153&mode=VIEW.
CMCS will hold at least two teleconferences to provide interested parties an opportunity to ask questions. The first teleconference will take place on January 16, 2013, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. eastern time. The dates, times, and call-in numbers for this and future teleconferences will be posted on the InsureKidsNow.gov website at www.insurekidsnow.gov/professionals/outreach/grantees.
We encourage all eligible interested parties to apply for the Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment Grants and look forward to continuing state and community-based efforts to ensure that all children have the health coverage and care they need.
