Promoting the Mental Health of Parents and Children by Strengthening Medicaid Support for Home Visiting.

Abstract

As state and federal policy makers seek to improve mental health, many aim to boost upstream approaches to prevent or mitigate diagnosable conditions. Home visiting offers a wholistic approach for new parents and children at home through health education, parenting support, and other services. Evidence of its benefits has accumulated across a growing number of home visiting models, some of which have demonstrated direct mental health outcomes, such as improved access to mental health services and reductions in family stress and maternal depression. Despite growing federal investments, home visiting reaches only a small fraction of families who might benefit. Public and private grant funding has successfully built and expanded home visiting in every state, but the current landscape of programs remains limited. As the nation's largest single coverage source for children, Medicaid, along with the Children's Health Insurance Program, has unsurpassed reach, to more than 40 million children and millions more families annually. Medicaid offers a natural vehicle to scale home visiting programs to promote early childhood development and address the mental health of both mothers and young children. To scale home visiting and reach far more families across the country who could benefit, federal policy makers should establish home visiting as a required Medicaid benefit and make additional investments to help states build capacity as the approach is scaled.