James March-April 2024 online - Flipbook - Page 49
Georgians are often introduced to
horrific stories of child maltreatment
through the news media. We must
continue to do all we can to avoid catastrophic tragedy, and thankfully we
have a real opportunity to have a powerful impact on the majority of cases
handled by the Georgia Division of
Family and Children Services (DFCS).
Cases involving neglect, as defined
in Georgia law and policy, make up 66
percent of what is handled by DFCS.
While these cases are not simple by
any means, by understanding the
causal factors behind neglect we can
work to design supports for families
that, when provided early enough, can
keep families from ever entering the
child welfare system. In doing so, we
can prevent the trauma children experience and enable the child welfare
system to focus scarce resources on
the cases that sometimes predictably
are potential catastrophic tragedies.
Georgia has wisely chosen over
the last decade to invest portions of
its Medicaid dollars in managed care
into targeted programs. For instance,
the Georgia Families Program serves
low-income families qualified for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
(TANF) and the Children’s Health
Insurance Program (CHIP). We know
the families served by this program
are statistically more likely than other
families to be reported to the child
welfare system. Medicaid rules are
typically standardized and do not
allow the kind of creativity and flexibility afforded when states choose to
enact managed care.
Concurrent with changes allowing
states to employ managed care, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, responding to growing bodies
of research, has also begun to encourage investments in improving conditions in the environments known to affect health, function, and quality-of-life
outcomes and risks. Housing, education, food, nutrition and discrimination
are environmental factors collectively
known as social determinants of health.
The wisdom behind this approach is
that early investments in these determinants can prevent negative and expensive health outcomes, such as diabetes,
cancer, heart disease, obesity and child
maltreatment. Logically, a healthier
population leads to communities that
are better educated and more economically prosperous.
CareSource, a nonprofit care management organization serving over
450,000 Georgians, has for the last seven years served the state of Georgia
as one of the options families enrolled
in the Georgia Families program can
choose. This number represents hundreds of thousands of opportunities
to improve lives in Georgia through
better health care each and every day.
CareSource goes beyond traditional definitions of health and wellness to
ensure members have the resources
and supports they need to overcome
obstacles and pursue meaningful
opportunities. Our Life Services®
program helps members lead more
stable, fulfilling lives by assisting with
employment, nutrition, transportation,
housing, education, budgeting, legal
assistance, safety and much more.
In addition, as a nonprofit health
plan, CareSource can invest dollars
back into the community by partnering with organizations that help
address social determinants of health.
Over the past two years, CareSource
has invested $13 million into programs
to support housing, maternal health,
mental health and organizations that
focus on the well-being of Georgia’s
families, children and communities.
This whole health approach has
improved health outcomes for Georgians, and the numbers speak for
themselves. Through partnerships
with providers, in 2022 CareSource:
+ More than doubled the number of
members who see a primary care physician
+ Increased well child visits by 44 percent
+ Reduced emergency room visits
by 16 percent
As the former director of the Georgia Division of Family and Children
Services and, more recently, the Los
Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, I can attest
that the majority of families served by
these systems could be better served
through economic supports and services. An example is Georgia Families, which statistically decrease the
likelihood of child welfare involvement.
In doing so, the overburdened child
welfare system can focus on those children and families with more serious
issues and more potential for tragic,
fatal outcomes. This is a unique opportunity to achieve better outcomes for
children and families, better long-term
outcomes for our communities and
ultimately create a stronger Georgia.
Bobby Cagle is the CareSource Georgia Executive
Director of Child Welfare.
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