Children and Youth Experiencing Crisis Journey Map

In February 2022, the National Association of Medicaid Directors convened a task group of behavioral health Medicaid leaders from across the country to address issues surrounding children and youth experiencing crisis. The task group mapped out the care journey for children who have complex co-occurring behavioral health conditions resulting in repeated, and often preventable, use of emergency departments and residential facilities.

Given the significant child-welfare involvement into the lives of this cohort of children, the task group outlined two separate journeys for children who are living with their families and those who are in child welfare.

This is a customizable tool for state Medicaid agencies to communicate with stakeholders on where Medicaid can intervene to:

• Enhance supports that prevent crises and other precipitating events,
• Improve and streamline the assessment process,
• Improve compliance and quality in residential treatment settings, and
• Enhance supports for children and their care-givers post-discharge.

Click “resource” for the customizable tool. For the generic NAMD pdf of this journey map, click here: NAMD Journey Map_ Children and Youth Experiencing Crisis.

For our state-only issue brief documenting Medicaid policy options to better address the needs of children who have complex co-occurring behavioral health conditions, click here.