Native American Health Initiative Gets $10 Mil Grant From Washington

Tribes and Indian Health Providers Urged to Apply

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the availability of up
to $10 million in grants to help reach American Indian and Alaska Native
(AI/AN) children who qualify for, but are not yet enrolled, in Medicaid
and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

These new grants are part of a broader effort to find and enroll
uninsured children who are eligible for Medicaid or CHIP but not
enrolled. The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act
of 2009 (CHIPRA) set aside $100 million for fiscal years 2009-2013
expressly to help find and enroll eligible uninsured children, including
$10 million specifically for Indian health providers.

As called for in CHIPRA, grants will be awarded by the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to applicants whose outreach,
enrollment and retention efforts will target geographic areas with high
rates of eligible but uninsured American Indian and Alaska Native
children, who often live in isolated areas and are uninsured at
higher-than-average rates.

"American Indian children are often uninsured, although many are
eligible for Medicaid and CHIP," Secretary Sebelius said. "These grants
will help Tribes and Indian health providers reach out to children and
families to ensure more children get the health care they need."

Grants will be awarded to applicants that will be able to demonstrate
increases in enrollment and improved retention of children already in
Medicaid and CHIP. Grantees will report to CMS the number of new
enrollees and those who retained coverage that are directly attributable
to the grant activities. Grantees will also report activities they
believe were the most effective in finding, enrolling and maintaining
coverage for eligible children.

"States have been effective in enrolling over 28 million children in
Medicaid and more than 7 million children in CHIP, but there are still
millions of uninsured, low-income children who are not enrolled in these
programs even though they are eligible" said Cindy Mann, the director of
the CMS Center for Medicaid and State Operations. "We are looking
forward to innovative grant proposals that will put new outreach,
enrollment and renewal systems in place to ensure that uninsured Indian
children get enrolled and stay enrolled for as long as they are
eligible."

Applications are due by Jan. 15, 2010, and the grants will be awarded on
April 15. Grants will be available to:

* The Indian Health Service;
* Tribes and Tribal organizations operating a health program; and,
* Urban Indian organizations operating a health program.

For more information about the outreach and enrollment grants, go to
www.cms.hhs.gov/CHIPRA. Questions about the grants may be directed to
the CHIPRA grants mailbox AIANCHIPRAOUTREACHGRANTS@cms.hhs.gov

General information about CHIP can be found at www.insurekidsnow.gov.

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