CMS Integrated Care for Kids (InCK) Model

The Integrated Care for Kids (InCK) Model is a child-centered local service delivery and state payment model that aims to reduce expenditures and improve the quality of care for children under 21 years of age covered by Medicaid through prevention, early identification, and treatment of behavioral and physical health needs. Some programs also include Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beneficiaries and pregnant woman over age 21 who are covered by Medicaid. The model will empower states and local providers to better address these needs, as well as the impact of opioid addiction through care integration across all types of healthcare providers. 

Almost $126 million in InCK Model funding is being awarded to the states and organizations below for the 7-year model launching in early 2020: 

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Figure1:

This graphic explains the Integrated Care for Kids (InCK) Model:

The Integrated Care for Kids (InCK) Model is a child-centered local service delivery and state payment model aimed at reducing expenditures and improving the quality of care for children covered by Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), especially those with or at-risk for developing significant health needs.

The InCK goals are as follows:

  1. Improving performance on priority measures of child health
  2. Reducing avoidable inpatient stays and out-of-home placements
  3. Creation of sustainable Alternative Payment Models (APMs)

Ann &  Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is one of only eight recipients in the United States to receive up to $16 million, seven-year award from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to develop Integrated Care for Kids – a new model of care that will aim to improve health outcomes and reduce costs of care for children covered by Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

As the lead organization, Lurie Children’s, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) and many neighborhood organizations, will create a socially and clinically integrated network to serve 43,000 children, up to 21 years of age, living in the Belmont Cragin and Austin neighborhoods in Chicago (zip codes 60639 and 60651). The network will bring together local pediatricians, specialists, behavioral health providers, and community organizations and institutions to address the medical and social needs of children and their families. 

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