About Us:

The goals of the Maryland Family Access Initiative are to:

1. Ensure that parents enroll their children/youth with special health care needs (SHCN) in the health plan best suited to their individual needs
2. Enhance the responsiveness of managed care organizations to the array of services required by children/youth with SHCN and their families.
3. Enhance the capacity of physician's office staff to support children with SHCN and families in accessing needed services.
4. Increase support of state agencies for families of children with SHCN in accessing services from Managed care organizations.

The Maryland Family Access Initiative trains cadre parents of children with SHCN to accomplish the following:

1. Educate other parents by providing workshops about:
   1. Accessing Community Resources
   2. Choosing a Health Plan
   3. Getting the Most from Your Health Plan
   4. How to Appeal Health Plan Denials
   5. Maryland's Medicaid Programs.
2. Support other parents in accessing services through managed care plans by responding to phone and e-mail requests for information, support and advocacy.
3. Work with pediatricians' and other health care providers in the state to enhance their knowledge of how to help families access services through managed care and to provide support and education to the families with children with SHCN in those practices.
4. Work at placements in state agencies to enhance agency knowledge about the needs of children with SHCN in managed care plans and to impact policy and procedures and serve on key advisory boards and committees that impact policy related to access to services for children with SHCN. Current placements include:
   1. State Medicaid agency
   2. State Disability Office
   3. Special Needs Children Advisory Committee for Medicaid in Maryland
   4. Maryland Medicaid Advisory Committee 
   5. Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council

Parents in these positions have accomplished the following:

• Had input to a draft brochure developed by Maryland Medical Assistance for families.
• Provided training to special needs coordinators in managed care organizations serving Medicaid in Maryland on transition to adulthood for youth with special health care needs and as a result the following occurred:
  • one plan is developing information and support for families with children and youth with special health care needs on transition.
  • Special Needs Children Advisory Committee for Medicaid decided to develop a subcommittee to learn what all managed care organizations serving Medicaid in Maryland are doing in relation to transition and then develop recommendations for best practices.
• Parent advocate on the project advocated and partnered with the local hospital, Title V CSHN program and a local dentist with interest and expertise to bring dental services for CSHN to a rural area of Maryland.

The Maryland Family Access Initiative is currently conducting a series of focus groups of families, practitioners and organization representatives to develop a State of the State report on access to services for children with SHCN through managed care.