Alabama
Alabama: Perfecting Enrollment for Alabama’s Kids
The Perfecting Enrollment for Alabama’s Kids (PEAK) initiative is led by the Alabama Department of Public Health in collaboration with the Alabama Medicaid Agency. The goal of the project is to pair advances in technology with the human touch to improve enrollment and retention rates in public coverage.
The initial phase of the Maximizing Enrollment program focused on an assessment of the strengths and opportunities for improvement in each grantee state’s enrollment and retention systems. Alabama’s assessment determined the following:
Strengths:
- Collaboration between state Medicaid and CHIP programs
- Community-based partnerships
- Technologically driven simplifications
Challenges:
- High level of paper use
- Separate information systems for Medicaid & CHIP
- Large burden on families during application process
Goals for Improvement:
- Identify barriers to enrollment and completion of application process
- Streamline enrollment and eligibility determination systems
- Implement Express Lane Eligibility (ELE)
- Utilize technological advances to increase retention
- Maximize state resources to identify, enroll, and retain eligible children
Key Activities:
- Engage consumers to analyze barriers towards enrollment
- Develop and implement an electronic case record system
- Implement citizenship documentation for match with SSA
- Improve transitions between coverage programs
Alignment with Reform:
- Build upon existing and create new inter-agency partnerships to coordinate reform implementation planning
- Engage in Health Insurance Exchange development
Click here for a profile of Alabama’s Medicaid and CHIP programs and to learn about the state’s enrollment and renewal simplification strategies.
“I am committed to increasing the enrollment of eligible children in both the Medicaid and ALL Kids programs. I have a keen interest in seeing that Alabama’s children receive appropriate health coverage…” – Alabama Governor Bob Riley, 2008
Project Leadership
Department of Public Health
Project Lead: Viki Brant, Director Bureau of Children's Health Insurance