ASSESSING MANAGED CARE FOR CHILDREN WITH CHRONIC CONDITIONS

This paper reviews opportunities to monitor managed care for children and adolescents with chronic conditions and considers how well the Hea lth Plan Employer Data and Information Set, version 3.0 (HEDIS 3.0), a ssesses care for these children. We propose four steps to strengthen t he applicability of HEDIS to children with chronic conditions: (1) dev elop methods of identifying and monitoring groups of children with chr onic conditions; (2) report HEDIS indicators for these children separa tely from those for other children; (3) develop and implement consumer and provider surveys that elicit information specific to these popula tions; and (4) develop specific structure, process, and outcomes indic ators for children with chronic conditions.