Santa Barbara County Children's Medical Services (CMS) is the administrative office for the Child Health and Disability Prevention Program (CHDP) and California Children Services (CCS) Programs. The CMS office seeks to support public and private providers of CHDP and CCS services to children. The office certifies CHDP providers and assists in paneling CCS providers. These are credential verification processes that allow for provider referrals and reimbursement. The CMS staff is available for consultation to facilitate the care and referral of children for well child care for low income families and specialty care for children with special health care needs.
Very brief descriptions of the individual CMS programs are given below. Please click on the titles in the side bar to view a comprehensive description. For each program, there are pages to view that provide information and forms for referrals, provider applications and provider tips. Please call or e-mail the office if you have additional questions.
New ! Access the State CHDP Webpage to download CHDP brochures, flyers, forms, manuals, and reports. Click here to conveniently print these tools at right at your office!
Child Health and Disability Prevention Program: CHDP
CHDP pays for well child examinations, developmental screening and immunizations at regular intervals for children who meet financial limits, (families earning less than 200% of the federal poverty level) or who have Medi-Cal insurance. Pediatricians and family practitioners can become certified providers. Other physician specialists can be providers with demonstrated experience and commitment to continuing pediatric education. The County CHDP Administrative Office certifies and monitors the providers, offers training to providers and office staff, reviews the encounter form (PM 160) and tracks children with problems identified during a CHDP examination. The office does not handle denials, payments or appeals for providers.
California Children Services: CCS
CCS
has four special programs for children (0-21 years) with special
health care needs. CCS is a medically based program that requires
medical reports and prescriptions for services from a physician
as essential steps in the process. Therefore, when referring a
family, it is important that you provide a medical report and
orders to CCS. In addition, eligibility is based on specific medical
risk factors, conditions or diseases; so, you must identify these
in the referral. The four types of CCS service are:
High Risk Infant Follow Up: HRIF
High Risk Infant Follow Up: HRIF offers high risk infants comprehensive developmental assessments and vision and hearing screening up to three years of age. Infants who are born with a risk factor(s) for physical developmental problems may qualify for this service. The goal is to identify infants and toddlers with delays and refer them for early developmental services to prevent serious physical disability. Infants who meet medical eligibility criteria are evaluated with no or minimal charge to the family. Reports are sent to the child's physician for review and appropriate action.
The CCS Diagnostic Program refers and pays for evaluations by medical specialists and diagnostic tests when a child may have a serious medical condition. This program is available to families who have no health insurance, families who have Healthy Families or Medi-Cal insurance and families whose health insurance denies in writing a CCS covered diagnostic service. Not all medical conditions or diseases are eligible; the general rule is that only chronic, potential disabling or life threatening, physical disorders are eligible.
The CCS Treatment Program provides comprehensive case management for children with serious, potentially life threatening or disabling medical conditions or diseases. Case management includes authorizing and facilitating access to treatment as prescribed by a CCS paneled primary care physician or specialist. It also includes the purchase of required medical equipment and supplies. The child must have a medically eligible condition or disease and the family must meet certain financial and residential criteria.
The MTP provides Physical and Occupational Therapy to children with certain physical (neuromuscular or orthopedic) conditions or diseases. These services are provided free of charge or at minimal cost. They are offered in special locations (Medical Therapy Units) associated with schools. Primary care physicians may work with the therapists to develop and prescribe the treatment plan or defer this task to the MTU Clinic physicians (an orthopedist and pediatrician).
