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Photo courtesy John Winters Thanks to The Boren Foundation, and Jack and Karen Kay Leonard for making this website possible. |
Blood Lead Testing on Indiana’s Medicaid-Eligible Children:
2001 Progress Report
Prepared by Tom Neltner of Improving Kids’ Environment on March 26, 2002
1999-2001 Blood Lead Testing Data for Indiana’s Medicaid-Eligible Children1 | 1 & 2 Year Old Children2 | 3, 4 & 5 Year Old Children | ||||
1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | |
# of Medicaid-eligible children who should receive at least one medical screen.3 | 61,306 | 69,746 | 74,536 | 69,905 | 65,993 | 73,451 |
# of those children receiving at least one initial or periodic medical screen.4 | 37674 | 44,129 | 48,452 | 22,340 | 26,808 | 31,523 |
# of confirmed blood lead tests.5 | 140 | 4,445 | 5,596 | 171 | 3,750 | 4,759 |
Maximum percentage of children screened that received blood lead test.6 | 0.4% | 10.1% | 11.5% | 0.8% | 14.0% | 15.1% |
% of Medicaid-required blood lead tests.7 | 200% | 200% | 200% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
1. Information derived from the Annual EPSDT Participation Report (Form HCFA-416) submitted by Indiana Family and Social Services Administration for calendar years 1999, 2000, and 2001.
2. Includes 12-month and 24-month visits.
3. From line 8, Form HCFA-416. The medical screen is the EPSDT screen. Blood lead testing is a part of the EPSDT screen. More children are eligible for Medicaid but are not necessarily eligible for the program when the screening is supposed to be done.
4. From line 9, Form HCFA-416.
5. From line 14, Form HCFA-416. Only blood lead tests properly reported by a Medicaid provider are included. Managed care organizations are not believed to be reporting all tests.
6. Number of confirmed blood lead tests divided by the number of children receiving at least one initial or periodic medical screen. This method assumes that a child was only tested once as part of the EPDST screen. However, 1 & 2 year old children are required to be tested at the 12-month and the 24-month visit. The actual percentage for these children may be as much as half the maximum number. Similarly, the actual percentage may be one-third of the maximum for children between 3 and 5 years old.
7. One and 2 year old children are required to be tested twice – at their 12-month and 24-month visits. Therefore, the number of confirmed blood lead tests should be 200% - one for each of the two visits. Children three to five years old are only required to be tested if they were not previously tested. Given the low testing rates in Indiana, the percentage should be closer to 100%.