[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 6, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E321]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


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

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 6, 2012

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. 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, 
program 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 critical 
care they can enter the hospital through the front door instead of the 
emergency room, significantly reducing health care costs.
  Under the former Medicaid model, individuals could receive only 
``hospice'' services and only after their doctors give them a prognosis 
of six 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. I am very pleased that the Affordable 
Care Act amended this policy to allow curative care for Medicaid 
eligible children in hospice. But ChiPACC goes beyond curative care and 
combines medical and support services currently available in Medicaid 
with counseling, respite, and other care that have previously only been 
available as hospice services.
  Please join me in sponsoring this very important legislation.

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