Simplifying enrollment and renewal processes for Medicaid and SCHIP, and improving coordination of existing health care coverage programs, are two key strategies Covering Kids & Families (CKF) grantees use to increase the enrollment of uninsured but eligible children and adults in Medicaid and SCHIP programs. A survey of 46 CKF state project directors and/or project coordinators and Medicaid and SCHIP officials in those states found:

• Of the activities they undertook that were the most promising in terms of achieving simplification and coordination goals, grantees reported that 76 percent of their simplification activities and 93 percent of their coordination activities led to improvements in Medicaid and SCHIP.
• According to grantees, two-thirds of the Medicaid and SCHIP simplification and coordination improvements implemented would not have occurred without CKF.
• Many grantees believed they were able to simplify or improve Medicaid and SCHIP coordination because of their good working relationships with state officials.
• State Medicaid and SCHIP officials acknowledged CKF’s role in simplifying and improving coordination between Medicaid and SCHIP: states officials mentioned 84 simplification policy or procedural improvements and 41 coordination policy or procedural improvements. Among state officials reporting a simplification or coordination improvement, 85 percent said that the improvement either would not have occurred without CKF or that it would have occurred without CKF but occurred more slowly.