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Given its role as a dominant purchaser of children’s health care, Medicaid can be an effective laboratory to test new interventions aimed at preventing and treating childhood obesity. The following resources outline practical ways state Medicaid agencies can finance childhood obesity prevention activities.


Medicaid Prevention Pathways Toolkit (March 2016) – This toolkit, developed by the Nemours Foundation, offers examples of how states have successfully created sustainable financing through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for preventing chronic disease, including childhood obesity, at both the individual and population levels.


Building a Culture of Health for Childhood Obesity: Overview & Action Plan for Medicaid Health Plans (November 2016) – This toolkit from the Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment for Medicaid project — a collaborative of the Institute for Medicaid Innovation, Medicaid Health Plans of America, and the Association for Community-Affiliated Plans — describes initiatives developed by Medicaid managed care organizations to prevent and treat childhood obesity.


The State of Obesity’s Healthcare Coverage and Programs (2017) – This website, a project of the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, provides an overview of Medicaid obesity coverage, Medicaid managed care childhood obesity performance improvement projects, and Medicaid fee-for-service treatment of obesity interventions.


Medicaid Fee-for-Service Treatment of Obesity Interventions (2014) – This report from the Stop Obesity Alliance at the George Washington University details Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) coverage linked to obesity prevention on a state-by-state basis.


Summary Report and Review of State Medicaid Policies and Quality Measures (2012) – This report from the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics documents states that have incorporated obesity prevention services into their Medicaid programs and offers considerations for inclusion of these practices in the Illinois Medicaid program.