As a long time scholar, I would define ESPDT as a Medi-Cal gain for any person below 21 years old. Similarly, title V is a section of Medi-Cal that handles both mothers and children’s problems. According to the Human and Health Services Agency, ESPDT provides services to youths (Health Resources and Services Administration, n.d., para. 1). Note that these youths may be at risk of penetrating into the Juvenile justice system. There are various definitions of the term in question. However, the definition above is sufficient for the scope of my discussion. That said this work provides a detailed overview of ESPDT and title v by providing a clarified discussion on the topics in question. It gives the benefits of ESPDT and discusses how San Diego has implemented the program to tackle health care issues among the youth.
The Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment program are structured to meet the regulations of pediatric care by achieving the emotional, developmental, and special physical necessities of low-income children. Developed in 1967, the program has an aim of identifying the handicapped problems for the children of the United States of America. It also provides a constant treatment so that no one overlooks the handicapped children. In fact, the federal law requires that the program covers detailed services and benefits for the children.
There are mainly five steps, which can be retrieved from EPSDT. These initials stand for Early, Periodic, Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment steps. The first step involves problem identification where the problem has to be identified as early as possible. Secondly, Periodic reveals that it is crucial for the children’s health to be checked regularly. The next step involves performing screening tests in order to identify possible problems for these children. To add onto the list, Diagnosis involves making the necessary follow-ups after a problem is identified. Ultimately, Treatment involves providing remedies to the identified problems (Health Resources and Services Administration, n.d., para. 2).
Title V possesses multiple similarities to the ESPDT program. Just like the ESPDT program, there is a social security act that covers the details of the title V’s section. This act strives at improving the health of all children and all mothers. The health improvement is achieved by coordinating ESPDT and providing treatment to children with individual health care units (Health Resources and Services Administration, n.d., para. 2). It also shares data gathering duties predominantly those connected to infant mortality. Evidently, the main benefits of ESPTD include additional medical services, private duty nursing, mental and nutritional evaluation, and case management (Mollow, 2002, P. 11).
Two systems can be implemented to address the healthcare risk in children. These systems can prove to be very useful for San Diego. To begin with, there is a fee-for-services system. This is whereby physicians receive direct payment from the state. They in turn provide Medicaid services to the American population. In this system, a child is able to get services from a physician devoid of prior permission from the state. It sufficed to note that such a system requires the parent to select a physician for his/her child. The second system available is the managed care system. This is whereby the state reimburses a managed health care plan for providing healthcare solutions. A perfect example of a managed health care plan is the health maintenance organization (Knipper, 2004, P. 7). The county also provides private duty nursing where the nurses their services in the home (Mollow, 2002, P. 11).
There are a number of healthcare services necessary for the at-risk youth. These are some of the services that were omitted by the EPSDT. Nonetheless, these services are a prerequisite for a healthy society. The ESPDT only covers a small section of the possible health risks affecting the youth. It only covers the diseases that were identified previously. This reveals that conditions such as chronic diseases and newly discovered illness must also be included in the program. Moreover, the standards used for EPSDT provide treatment only for the existing illness. These standards should be extended to cover injuries and also prevent development of illness to susceptible individuals (Knipper, 2004, P.12).
In conclusion, the State of San Diego has achieved majestic limits in administering the EPSDT program. This is clarified by Knipper who used data from San Diego to make his arguments. An ESPDT Centre was opened in July 2010 (Knipper, 2004, P.18). It offers a logical screening for all children that enter into foster care. Furthermore, a variety of treatments are available for children with special needs. These treatments include trauma informed treatment, psychotherapy, and cognitive focussed treatment. He further established that 67% of the children exhibited significant improvements in social, emotional, and behavioral problems. The report also reveals that 100% of the children were screened for social and developmental delays. To add insult to injury, 100% of the children received caregiver participation as a remedy to their problems. Evidently, the State of San Diego has done proud to its population.
References
Health Resources and Services Administration. (n.d.). EPSDT & Title V Collaboration to Improve Child Health. Web.
Knipper, S. (2004). ESPDT: Supporting Children with Disabilities. Web.
Mollow, R. (2002). Medi-Cal’s In-Home Operations. Web.