About ABCD
The Resource Center is built on NASHP’s Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) Electronic Resource Center, which compiled resources from the ABCD Program. ABCD was funded by the Commonwealth Fund, administered by NASHP, and designed to assist states in improving the delivery of early child development services for low-income children and their families by strengthening primary health care services and systems that support the healthy development of young children, ages birth to 3. The program focused particularly on preventive care of children whose health care is covered by state health care programs, especially Medicaid. From 2000-2012, the ABCD program helped 27 states create models of service delivery and financing through a laboratory for program development and innovation.
To learn about the legacy of the ABCD program from the states themselves please view The ABCD Legacy: In the Words of the States. Key NASHP ABCD publications are listed in this ABCD Publications Library below. Find select ABCD resources by entering “ABCD” into the search bar.
For states interested in staying involved in the efforts of ABCD states, please email Elinor Higgins at ehiggins@nashp.org to be added to the ABCD Alumni listserv.
ABCD I (2000-2003)
The first ABCD Consortium (ABCD I) was created in 2000 and provided grants to four states (NC, UT, VT, WA) to develop or expand service delivery and financing strategies aimed at enhancing healthy child development for low-income children and their families. The program concluded in 2003.
1. ABCD: Lessons from a Four-‐State Consortium
2. The North Carolina ABCD Project: A New Approach for Providing Developmental Services in Primary Care Practice
3. Building State Medicaid Capacity to Provide Child Development Services: Early Findings from the ABCD Consortium
ABCD II (2003-2007)
The ABCD II Initiative launched in 2003 and ended in early 2007. It was designed to assist states in building the capacity of Medicaid programs to deliver care that supports children’s healthy mental development. The initiative funded the work of five states(CA, IL, IA, MN, UT).
1. Improving the Delivery Health Care that Supports Young Children’s Healthy Mental Development: Updates and Lessons from a Five-‐State Consortium
2. State Policy Options to Improve Delivery of Child Development Services: Strategies from the Eight ABCD States
3. Measuring and Evaluating Developmental Services: Strategies and Lessons from the ABCD II Consortium States
4. How States are Working with Physicians to Improve the Quality of Children’s Health Care
5. State Approaches to Promoting Young Children’s Healthy Mental Development: A Survey of Medicaid, Maternal and Child Health, and Mental Health Agencies
6. Key Measurement Issues in Screening, Referral, and Follow-‐Up Care for Young Children’s Social and Emotional Development
7. Promoting Young Children’s Healthy Mental Development
8. Screening for Behavioral Developmental Problems: Issues, Obstacles, and Opportunities for Change
9. Using Medicaid to Support Young Children’s Healthy Mental Development
ABCD Screening Academy (2007-2009)
The ABCD Screening Academy included 19 states (AK, AL, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, KS, MD, MI, MN, MT, NJ, NM, OH, OK, OR, VA, WI), Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, who worked to identify and improve policies and practices that move the use of standardized developmental screening tools as part of well-child care from a best practice to a standard practice.
1.Measurement to Support Effective Identification of Children at Risk for Developmental Delay
2. State Strategies that Support Effective Identification of Children At-‐Risk for Developmental Delay
3. State Policy Improvements that Support Effective Identification of Children At-‐Risk for Developmental Delay
4. ABCD Screening Academy Progress Report: Improving the Identification of Young Children At-‐Risk for Developmental Delay
ABCD III (2009-2012)
ABCD III, which began in 2009 and ended in late 2012, developed and tested sustainable models for improving care coordination and linkages between pediatric primary care providers and other providers who support children’s healthy development. Five states (AR, IL, MN, OK, OR) developed lasting policy and systems improvements and practice improvements that build and strengthen linkages between primary care providers and other child and family service providers, thereby improving the quality of care for children with or at-risk of developmental delay.
1. The Enduring Influence of the Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) Initiative
2. Measuring and Improving Care Coordination: Lessons from ABCD III
3. Supporting Healthy Child Development through Medical Homes: Strategies from ABCD III States
4. Maintenance of Certification: ABCD III State Efforts to Capitalize on an Incentive for Quality Improvement
5. Policies for Care Coordination Across Systems: Lessons from ABCD III
6. Oklahoma’s Web Portal: Fostering Care Coordination Between Primary Care and Community Service Providers
7. Building Electronic Information-‐Sharing Systems to Support Care Coordination in Illinois
8. Improving Care Coordination and Service Linkages to Support Healthy Child Development: Early Lessons and Recommendations from a Five-‐State Consortium
9. Linking Children to Services: Building on Community Assets to Pilot Test Improvement Strategies
10. Improving the Lives of Young Children: Opportunities for Care Coordination and Case Management for Children Receiving Services for Developmental Delay
11. Engaging Parents as Partners to Support Early Child Health and Development
12. State Strategies for Care Coordination, Case Management, and Linkages for Young Children: A Scan of State Medicaid, Title V, and Part C Agencies
13. Improving Care Coordination, Case Management, and Linkages to Service for Young Children: Opportunities for States