Nearly all children in foster care are eligible for Medicaid. Building strong relationships between state Medicaid and child welfare agencies can help ensure that the needs of children and families in the child welfare system are met.

In this Medicaid Leadership Exchange podcast, West Virginia Medicaid director Cindy Beane and Kentucky Medicaid director Carol Steckel discuss their efforts to establish cross-agency collaboration between Medicaid and their respective child welfare departments to better serve the needs of children and their families. Hear how both states are pursuing new care delivery models through the use of a single, specialized managed care organization to serve the needs of these children. To build relationships between their respective Medicaid and child welfare agencies, both states are developing a shared language, aligning line staff, and creating “cultures of safety.” The conversation is moderated by Gretchen Hammer, former Colorado Medicaid director and senior strategic advisor for the National Association of Medicaid Directors, and includes insights from Mark Larson, former Vermont Medicaid director and senior vice president of leadership and capacity building at the Center for Health Care Strategies.

For more about opportunities to align Medicaid and child-serving systems, see Aligning Early Childhood and Medicaid and Advancing Child Welfare and Medicaid Alignment.

Medicaid Leadership Exchange is a podcast series exploring priority topics for Medicaid leaders developed in partnership with the National Association of Medicaid Directors and the Center for Health Care Strategies through support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Visit Medicaid Leadership Exchange for additional episodes.

Featured in this episode:

	Mark Larson, former Vermont Medicaid director and senior vice president of leadership and capacity building at the Center for Health Care Strategies		Gretchen Hammer, MPH, former Colorado Medicaid director and senior strategic advisor for the National Association of Medicaid Directors
	Cindy Beane, MSW, West Virginia Medicaid director		Carol Steckel, MPH, Kentucky Medicaid director

Support for this podcast was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.