Webcast
KMCO Archives
Beyond
Insurance: Other Resources for Accessing Care
(Originally
broadcast on May 24, 2000)
Hello
everyone. We're really happy that you're with us today. This
is Faye Eldar from the University of Illinois School of Public
Health.
I'm the family coordinator for the Quality Community Managed
Care Project and today we're doing a program about different
programs and services that can assist families with paying
for medical bills for their children who have special health
care
needs. Our speakers this morning are two people who are very
knowledgeable
in this field and we're really happy that they've agreed
to share their expertise with us.
Our
first speaker is Diane Becker,
LCSW. Diane is a social worker at the University of Chicago
Hospital
in Chicago, Illinois and she has many years of experience working
with children who have special health care needs in their
families. As a matter of fact, in the past when Diane worked
with
Title 5 Children With Special Health Care Needs Program, she
was
a consultant for my child and my familyand that's how I first
got to know her. The
second speaker is Barbara McCann from Oak Forest, Illinois.
Barbara
is the mother of Colleen who is seven years old and has special
health care needs. She and her family have had many varied experiences
trying to access medical coverage for Colleen and the family
and we're really pleased that she'll be able to share that with
us today.
Q.
Now I'd like to ask each of the speakers to introducethemselves
and tell us just a little bit about theirbackground
and how they learned about what families need toknow
for paying the bills. Diane.
A.
Hi, my name is Diane Becker and I am a licensed clinical social
worker in Illinois. I'm currently employed at the University
of Chicago Childrens Hospital as a medical social worker
for the neonatal intensive care unit. I have been working
as a social worker in Illinois since 1988 and I have been
employed in private, county and state organizations. Throughout
the years, I have had the opportunity to work with
thousands of parents who have children with health care needs.I
would just like to take this opportunity to commend all parents
throughout their challenge in obtaining resources an care
for their children.
Q.
Thanks, Diane. Barbara.
A.
Hi, my name is Barbara McCann. I am the Mom of five children.
They
range from age 23 to 19 and then we have Colleen who is seven
years old. Colleen was born prematurely and she now has cerebral
palsy spastic quadriplegic. So she has no independency,
no vocabulary, so we had to seek a lot of resources
over the past seven years.
Q.
Well thank you, Barbara. I'm really happy that you can be with
us today and share some of the knowledge that you have gained
in advocating for your daughter Colleen. As we know from
many families who have children with special health care needs,
finding a way to pay for their medical care becomes a major
issue. It is something that families typically don't have
any experience with before the child is born or joins the family,
and it can be often very difficult and confusing to find
out what programs and services are available. The first program
that we're going to talk about is Medicaid, which is a
health insurance program for low income persons that is run
by
the federal government. Diane, could you tell us a little bit
about Medicaid and what families need to know about it?
A.
Medicaid is a jointly-funded state and federal government program
that pays for medical care for those who can demonstrate
a need. And this need is shown through income and asset
standards as well as being someone that has a dependent child,
is pregnant, blind, disabled or over 65 years of age.
Q.
Okay and I think it's important to know that in each state,
the
Medicaid program is administered differently and it might have
different eligibility rules and we'll talk a little bit more
about that later. Barbara, can you tell us about your experience
in finding out about Medicaid and applying for Medicaid
for Colleen?
A.
Okay well we knew that our insurance under COBRA was going to
be
ending in November. I started between August and September trying
to get information on where to go. My husband is employed and
he is the only employed
person in our home. He is self-employed and that made
it more difficult to get Medicaid because you have to go under
a special department. You still have to apply, do all the
paperwork and when we went in there, they basically told us
that we were not eligible because my husband made over I think
the limit was $10,000. Our income was $10,000 more than their
allotted amount for the year.
Q.
Barbara, first could you tell us what is COBRA
and how did you get involved with that?
A.
Okay well my husband was employed at a company and they had
group
insurance. It was a big company. So when my husband left
the company, we were able to stay on the insurance but under
a COBRA plan. And
that I believe is a federal law that you can stay on COBRA.
You have to pay every month and everything, but they do havethat
where a family isn't just out in the cold. It's expensive but
we were
fortunate to be able to do it. But like I said, we only had
the 18 months and that
ended in November.
A.
Yes COBRA is Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
of 1985, and that was created to kind of create a bridge between
the health plan for workers, spouses and their children
who when the job ends, still have the option to maintain
some health insurance and that is for up to 18 months at
your own expense. And that is difficult because it's dependent
upon many different things, and you do have to pay out
of pocket for that full expense.
Q.
See what happens in most places where people are able to get
insurance
through their work is the employee is asked to pay a
percent and the employer pays the rest of the insurance cost
for
their employee. But under COBRA, the employer no longer pays
anything. The family or the insured person has to pay the
full amount and it's often a very large amount. As Barbara
said, her family was asked to pay $600 a month. Now in terms
of financial eligibility for Medicaid, again, each state sets
their own eligibility. What they use is a percentage of what's
called the federal poverty level which is recalibrated every
year. And it's the base line amount that the federal government
believes the family needs to have in order to survive
and there's a formula. So it's adjusted by the family size
and some states also count assets and there are other considerations
that they take into account. Now on our resource
page of our web site, there's a really good resource for
everyone to get more information about Medicaid and also about
the federal government Children's Health Insurance Program
which is called Kid Care in Illinois. The web site's called
Focus On Child Health. The address is www.hrsa.gov\childhealth.
It's one word. If you go to that page
and enter the name of your state, you will be able to get the
resource information, including addresses and telephone numbers
for health programs that the federal government is involved
in in your state. Diane, can you tell us a little bit
more about the new Children's Health Insurance Program that
was started by the federal government just a few years ago?
What do families need to know about that?
A.
Yes. That was created from the State of Illinois introducing
a
program titled Kid Care which offers affordable health insurance
for children through age 18 to pregnant women and their
children. So these services are free or low cost and eligibility
is based on a family's income.
Q.
But it's a higher income level than Medicaid. Is that correct?
A.
Correct.It also provides an extra unique situation
where if a parent is employed and has health insurance
through their employer and they need assistance paying
for insurance premiums, this program, if you financially
qualify, can also assist you with paying the insurance
premium so you can maintain that insurance through your
employer.
Q.
Oh you're talking about the rebate program right, Diane?
A.
Right.
Q.
That's one of the special features that we have here in Illinois
which is really outstanding. There are very very few states
that have that and that means if a family is working paying
for insurance at the same income level that they would be
eligible for Kid Care if the children had no insurance, they
can have their employer fill out the form documenting how much
money they pay every month for insurance and they get a rebate
check with a set amount per child every month from the state.
So that's something really important to know about.
A.
Just an addition on Medicaid. There are many who have income
and assets that may still qualify for the program by paying
a portion of the medical expense. And that term that is
used is called a Spend Down. The Medicaid program will pay for
medical expenses when a person can show that they owe or have
paid a certain portion of the care.
Q.
Okay thank you for bringing that up. That's something else that's
really important for people to know about and often is not
well understood. And basically, no matter what your income
is, you can go and apply for Medicaid and if you have really
big medical expenses or unfortunately you or your child has
to go into the hospital, you need to bring those bills to the
Medicaid office and they will work with you to apply those bills
against the Spend Down so you could potentially become eligible.
Now Barbara, can you tell us about your experience in
applying for Kid Care?
A.
Yes. I had heard about Kid Care in April and knowing that
our insurance
was going to be ending in November and as any parent knows
with a child of special needs, you've got to work really long
in advance to get as much information as you can and get all
the paperwork together. So what I did was I got the application
and I sent it in in April. I explained the situation
that our insurance wasn't ending until November, but I
just wanted to see if we would qualify and especially at this
point, see if we would qualify for the Rebate Program. Again,
we were not eligible. At this point we were $4000 over their
allotted amount. I just don't understand sometimes how they
can set these amounts. They're
just not to me as a parent, they don't seem realistic enough.
The Kid Care Program they were polite. They were very
helpful in filling out the application. We did submit it and
once again, like I said, we were turned down. But
we would get something like $75 if we were eligible, $75 a month
toward the COBRA for Colleen's
portion of her health insurance.
Q.
Okay now Diane, I think Barbara has brought up something
really
important in telling us about applying for a program and
finding out you're not eligible. Could you talk a little bit
about why families should go through all the paperwork and apply
for programs even if they think they might not be eligible
or somebody in the office says maybe you're not eligible.
What would be the reason to do that?
A.
Yes. There's a couple of different reasons. The first I
would
just like to say that I would encourage any parent when they
are applying for a specific program to if they are denied service,
to automatically appeal that decision and that's for a
couple of different reasons. One is that there is financial
and
medical guidelines in place as criteria to determine eligibility
for different programs and this appeal would allow the
agency to examine this particular case a little more carefully
and to bring it to an administrative level. And that's
beneficial for families for a couple of different reasons.
The first is that there is typically a large amount of
people applying for different programs and there can be an error
that was made in denying services. So you would like someone
to re-examine that to make sure that that was correctly
examined. The second reason is that an administrator
has the ability to be more influential in changing
their own policy guidelines and can advocate for a family
more at a state level. It is more helpful to bring to the attention
of the administrative
people that this is a real need in the community.
Q.
Okay so these are really helpful guidelines that I think most
of
us have not thought too much about Diane and I want to remind
all families that you do always have the right to apply for
a program in writing. It's not possible to determine over the
telephone whether or not somebody is eligible. Yet sometimes
we hear from people that they called some government office
and they said oh no you're not eligible. They never actually
filled out the application. Can you tell us a little bit
about that?
A.
It is important to get something in writing because there are
numerous
different programs available in the community and because
it's based on funding from different resources, everyone
likes to be considered as payer of last resort. That means
that you have tried other places and you have been denied
and there is no resource available to you. So this is important
because you are able to show documentation to different
organizations that you have applied for service and have
been denied and you would be then eligible for different types
of charity programs available.
A.
One thing I would like to add on this. When I did talk to somebody
at Kid Care, I don't know if it was a case worker, but
I kind of said to him what does a person do? Now basically what
he said was to keep your application showing that you were
denied. If your daughter ever goes into the hospital, you
can show them this. Hospitals have money set aside
for situations like this.
A.
That's a good point, Barbara. Many of the public hospitals do
have
different types of charity programs that they have set aside.
They do not openly advertise about those, but they do have
different resources that they an help people who meet a financial
guideline. And the reason that they do not advertise
regarding that is because they encourage families to work
with a hospital social worker to look at all the different
options in the community as well as the hospital. So
they do like to offer that as a resource to families, but they
also want to encourage the families to work with a social worker
for a long-term option and in other situations where the
particular hospital may not be involved.
Q.
One other thing that I'd like to add to the point that you've
raised,
it's also really important that before you receive care
from a hospital or doctor, you let them know about your situation
that you applied for Medicaid or for children's health
insurance and you were not accepted. You don't have insurance.
The hospital or the doctor most of the time will work
with you to set up a payment plan and you need to be up front
about this, not wait until after you have received some treatment.
And I know this is often really embarrassing when you
have to tell professionals people who are strangers or even
your own doctor about your financial difficulties. Many families
go through this and hospitals are use to working with families
and many doctors are use to working with families in this
way.
A.
Yes and also many of the programs require medical information
that
the doctor is very critical in providing. So it is important
to include the physician and what you're applying for
and what you are going through out in the community because
the hospital does have different information about resources
and if they are not aware that this is something that
you need or want, then it may not be something that they offer
to you. So it's very important that you do share that information
with your physician and they do have other staff such
as a social worker or a community worker that could help you
get linked to other resources.
Q.
Barbara, did you inform Colleen's doctors about the situation
your
family was going through with not having insurance?
A.
Oh yes I did. We're also under the Division of Specialized
Care for Children. We've been on that since I believe
95 and so that has been helpful too. They have worked with
us regarding the insurance situation and what would happen
and what would go on. I did talk to her pediatrician and
he was just wonderful. Colleen has gone to him since
birth and I think as a Mom you get kind of nervous with this
the insurance and you think
well if you don't have insurance, they're not going to take
proper care of your child and that was one of my things. And
he just reassured me that don't have to worry about that. He
says you know us by now and
you know that we would do whatever we can to help you out. So
that was a real encouragement.
Q.
Well it's really good to hear that and you've just mentioned
one
of the most valuable programs that exist today for children
in the United States who have special health care needs
and that is the Title 5 Division of Specialized Health Care
for Children programs. These are again, like Medicaid, a
federal state partnership. In Illinois the program is called
the Division of Specialized Care for Children. In each state
the program has a different name and may be administered a
little differently in terms of eligibility and services. But
this is the umbrella in each state for children who have special
health care needs and the way to find the information about
your state is to go over to our resource page and go to the
web site for a federal organization called Nichcy. It's www.nichcy.org.
Then click on the state of your choice for a state
resources sheet and you will get a listing of all of the government
agencies related to children who have special needs in
your state. Diane, I know you worked for children with special
health care needs programs for a number of years Can you
tell us a little bit more about it, what people need to know
about it?
A.
Yes. That that program is based on first of all a medical criteria
that a child has a specialized health care need that is
amenable to treatment and chronic in nature. And those are different
types of categories that are offered such as orthopedic,
neurological, things like that that you could find more
out. You could find more information about different categories
that are eligible on the web site and they case manage
medical care. So if someone is above a certain income and
they are not financially eligible for many programs, they will
help work with you in the community to link you to other providers
that can work with you on either a sliding fee basis or
receive medical care free of cost. The second portion that the
program does is that families that do meet a financial criteria,
they help pay for all of that specialty care that's needed
for the child. So that would be all of the medical specialists
involved. They do not cover things such as acute illness
or injury, malignancies, cognitive disorders or psycho-social
disfunction. But the case worker will work with you
to link you to other resources in the community that do assist
with those types of disorders.
Q.
I think it's really important for us to remember that in each
state
the program offerings and eligibility for the Children With
Special Health Care Needs Program is quite a bit different
as well as the name of the program may be different so
it's really worth while to check in your state and find out
what's
available. But we've been talking so much about applying
for programs and applications and Diane, I would like to
know as a social worker what do you think are the most important
things that a family needs to get ready before they call
you or another social worker or case manager up to get assistance?
What kind of background or homework do they need to
do to prepare for contacting you to get help related to paying
for medical bills?
A.
Many of the programs that a family would be applying for require
the same basic information. So what I recommend for families
to do is create some type of filing system or a specific
binder that they can have all of this current information
in and they can carry that with them as they apply to
different services. They will need things such as the birth
certificate, tax forms or their last two paycheck stubs to
indicate their income. They would need the social security card.
They would need some information that has their mailing address
on it to demonstrate where they reside. They would need
some sort of medical information. I always encourage families
to have at least one copy of a medical report with all
of their childrens' diagnosis on the report and that is available
then for them to have organizations Xerox a copy of that
and for them to still maintain that information in their home.
The families are the experts on their own children and what
type of care they would require. So it's very important that
they understand medically everything that's going on with their
child and have a very good understanding with their physician
and then they are able to navigate some of these financial
resources much better.
Q.
Now Barbara, can you tell us a little bit about your record
keeping
or filing system? Do you have a file cabinet that's bigger
than your daughter yet?
A.
Almost.
Q.
How do you keep the papers in order?
A.
Well I'm glad you can't see my table right now cause I have
a lot
of papers all over it right now. I have a filing system.
I just have each doctor each hospital that we go to and
when the bills come I just slip them in there and then when
the insurance pays or DSCC pays, I just match it up with that.
I do have just a file on Colleen as far as her medical reports.
I have a file for funding information. Things that
come through and even necessarily if I
don't meet that or if I was declined on it, I do try to keep
some
of the information because you never know. In a year things
may change and you may need some of that information. So
it's readily available to you to keep. It does take up a little
room but it's worth it when you have to go back and look
up something or you're kind of stressed out. You can go through
the funding and loan
file and just see what options are available.
Q.
How did you get started with your filing system?
A.
Well I got started because the papers just kept coming in
and it
was very overwhelming. We have a very hectic schedule. When
I started applying to programs, I needed to get this
information together. And instead of it taking me two days
to find it, now it will hopefully take me five minutes to find
it.
A.
That's a good point, Barbara, about saving the information of
the
agencies that you have applied to and that is for one reason
to be able to demonstrate to other programs that you're applying
for that you have checked out those resources that are
available. The second thing is because a lot of times the different
programs are dependent upon funding, that does change
from year to year or every few years as well as the income
and medical guidelines will change, based on the need. So
it is important to maintain numbers to be able to check back
and see if there have been any changes in what the eligibility
criteria is.
Q.
You know while you're saying that, I remember also when there
are
changes in your family, if you've been rejected for a program
like SSI, Supplemental Security Income, on financial grounds,
if your income goes down or your family size goes up, you
need to reapply.
A.
Yes.
Q.
Diane, can you tell us a little bit more about SSI?
A.
Yes. SSI is Supplemental Security Income and these are benefits
that are payable to disabled children under 18 who have
limited income and resources. And it will provide a monthly
check to be used toward that child's medical needs at that
time. When they're 18 and older, the parents' income is no
longer used to determine eligibility. And disabled for Supplemental
Security Income is defined as marked and severe functional
limitation. So they're looking at a child's condition
that is expected to last at least 12 months or longer
or expected to result in the child's death.
Q.
And again this is an important additional resource for families
to know about. It can provide some financial help for
the extraordinary cost of raising their child with special needs
at home. If in doubt, just like we talked about all the other
programs, you should go out to the Social Security office
and apply. I know there are other kinds of programs that people
access for
health care such as Shriners Hospital health departments. Can
you tell us a little bit about that?
A.
Shriners Hospital has 32 hospitals throughout North America
and
they work strictly off of donations and they do their own their
own fund raising for their program. And the one in Chicago
is Chicago Shriners Hospital. It's a 60 bed pediatric specialty
care hospital, and they provide services for orthopedic
plastic reconstructive surgery and spinal cord injury
care to children at no charge to the family or to a third
party.
Q.
So for children who need certain kinds of special specialized
care
surgery, they might be able to access a Shriners Hospital,
if not in their state, in their region. But it's not
a general hospital where a child would go if they had pneumonia
or they broke their leg or anything like that. Is that
correct?
A.
That's correct. It's very specialized in terms of those categories
mentioned. It's also not an emergency care center that
most of the hospitals are equipped to deal with. There are
some emergency admissions for burns at specific state sites.
Q.
And Barbara, did you look into Shriners Hospital for Colleen?
A.
I submitted an application about two or three years ago and
they
sent back information that we would be eligible. But we never
really, at this point, have had to use them.
Q.
Well Shriners is an important program for families to know about
and as Diane mentioned, there are a number of hospitals across
the country and I understand that Shriners also has a kind
of special relationship with the Children for Special Health
Care Needs Programs in the states. Can you tell us a little
bit about that, Diane?
A.
That's correct. They do. They have a social worker in Shriners
that specifically works with linking families to the Division
of Specialized Care for Children when they meet the criteria
at the hospital and this is important because sometimes
there is testing, x-rays, labs, things that are required
that Shriners would not be able to do within their hospital.
And they do need to access that care outside of the Shriners
Hospital. So it is a working relationship between the
two as well as the Division of Specialized Care for Children.
They have a certain amount of money that they can pay
each year for a child's care and they know if the worker is
aware that the family is reaching that limit and the child needs
a special surgery or a procedure done, they will also recommend
that the family receive the care at Shriners to then use
the money from Specialized Care for Children for another form
of treatment.
Q.
Okay that's really good to know and again, you can go to our
resource
page and go to the Shriners Hospitals for Children web
site and find out the Shriners Hospital in your area and their
contact information. Now I'd like to discuss a little bit
about health departments and what kind of health care resources
are available to families at the health department.
A.
The Board of Public Health Clinics are available in numerous
different
locations. They do have an information and location number
here in Chicago at 312-747-9884. And families can call to
obtain information related to that. They provide services such
as routine pediatric care, immunizations, different types of
clinic care. They do not always see children with special health
care needs. So you would need to call the Public Health
Clinic to determine if they would. And that's because based
on different immunization shots or care that would be needed,
a specialist would typically need to be involved.
Q.
But something important for families to know about for all their
children that health departments across the country whether
it's a city or county or regional health department may
be able to provide checkups, shots, some of them have dental
care, some of them have car seat programs and other kinds
of community services. What are the most important things
and the most important advice you would give to families
about focusing on getting help and paying medical bills
for their childrens' special needs?
A.
Well one thing I'd like to say is not to give up, to consistently
just check all your resources all the time. It's hard
a lot of times when you apply for things and you get turned
down. You're not eligible and sometimes you really feel
defeated and like there's no other place to go, but just keep
plugging because there's so many programs out here. It's
just that people don't come knocking on your door to tell you
about them and you just have to go out and look for them and
just talk to a lot of people. There's people out there that
know different
things. So I've gotten a lot of information that way.
We are with ICHIP now and the Division of Specialized
Care for Children.
Q.
And one more program that we haven't mentioned yet, ICHIP
which
is Illinois' High Risk Health Insurance Pool. Can you tell
us about that please, Barbara?
A.
Yes. After exhausting all our possibilities for insurance for
Colleen,
we did have to go through the ICHIP plan which is the Illinois
Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan. I did apply for it
in September and I did call and get the application sent to
us.
I filled out the application in October and then it took them
about 30 days to send back a letter saying that we are eligible.
Colleen and I are both on the program because I have
been diagnosed with something so I couldn't get health insurance
either. So we are both on the program. What they did
was they sent the application to us. They sent the information
booklets. They sent a list of doctors that we can go
to, which almost all our doctors were already on the program,
all the specialty doctors. They sent us a letter back telling
us
what the premium is. With Colleen, her premium was $612 quarterly.
It's based on being female and her age. Mine the same
thing. Mine is $1147 quarterly. And that's due to my age
and different things like that so it's costly. Plus my husband
and my other two daughters had to get another policy. So
right now as it is, it's about a thousand dollars a month that
we're dishing out for health insurance. But it's an answer
for us right now at this time.
Q.
Well I really appreciate your sharing this important information
with us, Barbara, and for all of us to know that some
but not all states have chosen to have high risk pools they're
called for people whose medical problems prevent them from
getting other kinds of health insurance. When you look into
your state resources, you can ask in your state if they have
a program like that. And Diane, could you please summarize
what you think are the most important things that families
need to know about paying medical bills and getting help
for their children with special needs.
A.
Just to add on the ICHIP program. It's important to recognize
that
that is not an insurance company and it's not an entitlement
or welfare program. So you have to be eligible for
that program and ICHIP determines if they have room available
for you. So it's not something that they automatically
have to provide to a family. The funding is by premiums
received by participants and partly by an appropriation
from the state's general revenue fund. The premiums
do vary based on gender, age, geographical area, deductible
amount and type of plan. So it is very important to
look at that as a resource and realize that it could be very
high premium that he would be required to pay and that it is
not a guaranteed resource, that it is something that you may
be able to obtain and you may not.
Q.
Okay I think there's one other thing that I would like to add
from
my own experience for. Some families will not be eligible
for any of the programs that are funded by the government,
but there is one more source of help available and that
is through medical deductions on your federal income tax. The
federal government allows families to deduct itemized documented
medical deductions that are more than 7.5 percent of
their income. And this is for people at all income levels who
would have to pay taxes. No matter how small or how high your
income is, It's very important to keep really careful records
and it can include your mileage payment for the medical
and disability costs that are not covered by any insurance
or any other program. You do need to file a letter from
the treating physician explaining about the child's diagnosis
and recommendations and there is one of the parent training
and information centers in Illinois. The Family Resource
Center on Disabilities every year puts out a booklet called
Tax Guide for Parents. You can obtain it by calling them
at 312-939-3513 and it's a little booklet that's revised yearly
as the Internal Revenue Service makes revisions. It explains
to families what the laws are about medical deductions
and it's real important to keep that in mind as well.
Well i want to thank you Diane.
A.
Just to summarize in terms of important things that a family
should
keep in mind. I always encourage families to connect with
a resource person in the medical field, whether that is someone
on the medical team or a social worker that can help coordinate
everything involved and assist with different programs
in the community. As was mentioned, it's very hard to
know the different programs that are available, and this is
a
person that is in the community that would be able to tell you
different resources. I also encourage parents to be very organized
in terms of their information and to write down dates
and names of who they speak to so that they have an accurate
record of everything that has occurred, and I just encourage
all parents to keep voicing the challenges and concerns
related to children and health care because any of the
programs are created from learning about these needs from the
parents themselves.
Q.
Diane, thank you very much. Barbara, thank you very much.
I think
you both really contributed a lot of wonderful information
that will be helpful to many families and as families
we know we need to connect with one another, share our
information. We can be the best resource for each other. The
people that we get to know along the way who are dedicated to
helping our children and our families. So we're really grateful
for your input. This
concludes our webcast in the KMCO series on Managed Care and
children
with special health care needs. Thank you for logging on. We're
really interested in your comments and questions about our webcasts
and we invite you to contact us. You can reach us by e-mail
at cade@uic.edu. Call us on the phone at 312-996-2233 or fax
us at 312-413-0367. We're in Chicago, Illinois central
time. We
hope you've enjoyed this broadcast and you'll join us for the
upcoming
broadcasts. They're all scheduled for the fourth Wednesday
of each month at 1:30 p.m. central standard time. Once
we have aired a webcast for the first time, it will then be
archived
on our qcmc2 web site, and you can access it at any time. Our
internet address is http://www.uic.edu/sph/cade/qcmc2. It features
the archives webcasts, extensive lists of resources related
to children with special health care needs and managed care,
links to opportunities for on-line training and courses, information
on our project staff and activities, a featured web site
or resource of the month and much more.
Thank
you for joining us.
Bye.
End of transcript.
