Medicaid covers nearly 40 percent of children and 42 percent of births in the U.S., playing a critical role in ensuring access to high-quality health care for women and children. The Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant program provides direct health care and population-based services to an estimated 59 million people. Together, these programs are essential to delivering comprehensive, effective care to women and children nationwide.

Braiding funds is a key strategy that providers, clinics, and health care systems can use to support programs that use both Medicaid and Title V resources. This brief introduces opportunities to use braiding within these programs, defines braiding, and provides an overview of Medicaid and Title V. It explores how braiding funds can help state agencies align resources more effectively to provide higher-quality, coordinated services for women and children.

This brief is a product of the Center for Maternal and Child Health Medicaid Partnerships (CMMP), a national TA center supporting state Medicaid and Title V agencies in strengthening their partnerships and improving MCH coordination. CMMP is managed by Altarum in partnership with the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), Family Voices, and the Association for Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP).

The Center for Maternal and Child Health Medicaid Partnerships is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $1,999,021.00 with 0% financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.