Children and families with complex health and social needs often require services and interventions from numerous sectors and the associated providers, state agencies, or programs. This assortment of programs may require families to navigate different eligibility criteria, enrollment processes, and administrative hurdles to access each one. Recent federal and state policy activity has focused on building a more robust and interconnected care system for children with complex needs.

This 4-part series explores the experiences of Oregon children enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP who face complex health and social challenges during early childhood. This series provides key insights into the care journeys of these children and highlights opportunities to strengthen the integration of services through informed policy updates.

• Part 1: Overview and policy context – Provides context and policy considerations for state decision makers around the care system for young children with complex health and social needs. It also presents data on the prevalence of chronic health conditions for the cohort, and how often they encountered different social and environmental experiences.
• Part 2: Public program participation – Examines which public support programs children with chronic health conditions enrolled in Medicaid/CHIP encountered during early childhood. Provides a detailed look at the receipt of early intervention and home visiting services among eligible children.
• Part 3: Health states and health service use – Details the types of chronic health conditions our study population experienced between ages 0 and 5 and health care service use including well-child visits, emergency department visits, and hospital utilization.
• Part 4: Early education – Explores early education and special service access and outcomes during the kindergarten-to-3rd grade period.

Visit the interactive tool to further explore the data presented in this series.