10 FOSTER INNOVATION KNOWLEDGE SUMMARY: WOMEN’S & CHILDREN’S HEALTH 2010

Expand opportunities for early identification. To help identify infants and toddlers at risk of social, emotional and behavioral health problems and enable providers to deliver effective interventions, policymakers can support regular developmental screenings and early assessments at well-child pediatrician visits. State legislators can work to ensure the standardized use of reliable screening tools by directing state agencies and their contractors/vendors to use such tools and requiring insurance, HMO and Medicaid contracts to include coverage for developmental and behavioral health screenings, for example. As a result of a class action lawsuit, Massachusetts reconstructed its Medicaid behavioral health care system for...