6/2012

Home visits to new parents and young families help ensure that both mothers and children receive the health services they need to thrive. Home visiting programs vary widely in scope and intensity, but studies of certain models have found them effective at improving outcomes for both new mothers and young children.

Various funding streams — federal, state, and private — support state home visiting programs. Recently, however, in light of Medicaid’s ability to reach so many low- income and at-risk women, interest has been growing in its potential to finance home visiting services for eligible mothers and children.

The Pew Home Visiting Campaign engaged the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) to investigate
how states are using — or could use — Medicaid to finance home visiting services. NASHP conducted a literature review
and a scan of state policies and practices nationwide to identify mechanisms for supporting home visiting services through Medicaid and facilitated an expert meeting at which state and federal government representatives and national home visiting experts discussed the benefits and challenges of different Medicaid funding mechanisms.

Source: Pew Center on the States, Pew Home Visiting Campaign, and National Academy for State Health Policy

Available at: http://www.nashp.org/sites/default/files/medicaid.financing.home_.visiting.programs.pdf