[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 148 (Wednesday, September 17, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1824-E1825]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CHIPACC BILL: CHILDREN'S PROGRAM OF ALL-INCLUSIVE, COORDINATED CARE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 17, 2008

  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk about an 
issue of concern to all families, and everyone who has ever known a 
sick child.
  The Children's Program of All-inclusive, Coordinated Care, ChiPACC, 
serves the needs of Medicaid-eligible children who suffer from 
potentially terminal illnesses or conditions. The legislation I am 
introducing will make ChiPACC a state option under Medicaid.
  Medicaid-eligible children--like all children who suffer from 
potentially terminal illnesses or conditions--need comprehensive, 
coordinated care. Currently, nearly 30 percent of the children in the 
United States who have life-threatening conditions qualify for 
Medicaid. These children are forced into a system that will only treat 
them on an emergency basis, sending them home to wait until their next 
health emergency.
  Based on the highly effective, collaborative model of care developed 
by Children's Hospice International, CHI, the Children's Program of 
All-inclusive, Coordinated Care provides each enrolled child an 
individualized treatment plan that includes and manages services from 
providers across the health care spectrum. ChiPACC's services will 
improve upon the often inconsistent care that is currently available to 
seriously ill children under Medicaid, doing so at a savings to 
taxpayers.
  With appropriate comprehensive and coordinated services under 
ChiPACC, many emergency episodes can be avoided or anticipated and 
managed, such that children receive appropriate care in their homes 
instead of in hospitals, and so that even when they require

[[Page E1825]]

critical care they can enter the hospital through the front door 
instead of the emergency room, significantly reducing health care 
costs.
  Under the traditional Medicaid model, individuals can receive only 
``hospice'' services and only after their doctors give them a prognosis 
of 6-months to live. Children, however, are much more likely than 
adults to go in and out of terminal phases multiple times. No family 
should be forced to give up curative care for their, child in order to 
receive services that are predicated on accepting that their child has 
no more than 6 months to live. ChiPACC addresses this problem by 
combining medical and support services currently available in Medicaid 
with counseling, respite, and other care that have previously only been 
available as hospice services.

                          ____________________