Child Health

MICA's Child Health Program helps link children to medical and dental providers for needed care and provides gaps filling services for medical and dental care that may not be readily available to all children. The child health program helps families to access the following screening services for their children:

• history
• physical examinations
• vision and hearing screening
• dental education and referral
• health education
• immunizations
• developmental assessment
• nutrition and psychosocial screening
• laboratory tests including blood lead testing

Early and Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment

The Early and Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) program is a large part of MICA's Child Health Program. Through the EPSDT program MICA contacts all the newly enrolled children (age 0-21) with the Medicaid or Title 19 program each month. MICA informs families of their rights as a Medicaid participant and the type of care available to them, identifies referrals needed for medical and dental care and makes those referrals, arrange transportation or translator services for these families and identifies other referrals which the family may need (food pantry, domestic violence shelter, parenting classes, etc).

Early ACCESS

Early ACCESS is also a part of MICA's Child Health Program. Any child 0-3 with a venous blood lead level of 20 ug/dL is referred to MICA from the local lead agency. These families are contacted and asked to participate with Early ACCESS due to a known condition with a probability of future delay. It is a voluntary program but services include:

• Screenings, evaluation, and assessments
• "Individualized Family Service Plan"
• Assistive Technology
• Service Coordination
• Audiology
• Family training/counseling
• Health services
• Medical evaluations to determine eligibility
• Nursing
• Nutrition
• Occupational therapy
• Physical therapy
• Psychology
• Social work
• Special instruction
• Speech language therapy
• Vision
• Transportation

Dental Services
The Title V child health agencies receive funding specifically dedicated to oral health. The dental funds may be used to strengthen local oral health infrastructure and/or to provide basic dental services to uninsured and underinsured children.

Dental services may be provided through referrals to dentists who agree to provide limited restorative and preventive care to the child health clients. Reimbursement to dentists is based on the Medicaid (Title XIX) fee schedule. To be eligible for these funds, a child cannot be eligible for the Medicaid program, must be uninsured or underinsured for dental care, must be enrolled as a Title V child health client, and the child's family income must meet the guidelines established by Iowa's Title XXI program.

Dental services may also be provided through dental hygienists who are employed or contracted by the Title V agencies. Services include oral screenings and fluoride varnish applications, and are often provided at WIC clinics and in Head Start classrooms. Medicaid reimburses Title V child health agencies for screenings and fluoride varnish applications provided by a dental hygienist to Medicaid-enrolled children, ages 0-20.

Child health agencies strive to improve access to dental care for children through ongoing care coordination. This includes educating families about good oral health, assisting families with scheduling dental appointments, assisting families to find transportation to appointments, providing translation services, and reminders about follow-up of dental appointments and other services.

More Child Health Information
To find out more about MICA's Child Health program, please contact Child Health Coordinator Kate Pergande at 641-752-7162 ext. 163.