Medicaid's health program for children, called Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment, or EPSDT, was created to ensure that low-income children are promptly screened and treated for health problems. The screening must occur at periodic, pre-set intervals and is intended to catch health problems before they become worse. As President Johnson explained in 1967, “The problem is to discover, as early as possible, the ills that handicap our children. There must be continuing follow-up and treatment so that handicaps do not go untreated.”
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NHeLP recently filed an amicus (or “friend of the court”) brief in Rosie D, a case involving Massachusetts's failure to provide care for children with serious emotional disturbance. Our brief details the legislative and administrative history of EPSDT to explain to the court that Congress could not have intended timely EPSDT to stop with a diagnosis and promise of treatment.
Learn more about NHeLP's recently launched Amicus Project, a judicial advocacy strategy to protect the rights of low income Medicaid enrollees, and read a new blog from Jane Perkins and Kim Lewis about Rosie D.
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Originally posted by National Health Law Program. National Health Law Program protects and advances the health rights of low-income and underserved individuals and families. They advocate, educate, and litigate at the federal and state levels to advance health and civil rights in the U.S.
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