{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T18:18:29Z","timestamp":1788545909698,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"JMIR Publications Inc.","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JMIR Pediatr Parent"],"abstract":"Abstract<\/jats:title>\n \n Background<\/jats:title>\n The California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative supports Enhanced Care Management (ECM) for high-need pediatric populations but published evidence of the impact of ECM in pediatric populations is lacking.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Objective<\/jats:title>\n We evaluated a novel multidisciplinary care model (Pair Team) for delivering ECM services, focusing on implementation and early outcomes for children and adolescents enrolled in California\u2019s Medicaid program (Medi-Cal).<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n We conducted a retrospective, observational cohort study of Medi-Cal-enrolled children and adolescents who enrolled in Pair Team\u2019s program between July 2022 and November 2024. Program engagement, health care engagement, and depressive symptoms were assessed using program data, electronic health records, and prescription data.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n The main cohort included 1294 enrollees with 12 months of follow-up data (mean age 8.9 years, 50.3% (651\/1294) female, 81.8% (1058\/1294) experiencing homelessness). Members averaged 2.8 interactions per month with care team members over the first 3 months and 57.1% (851\/1491) were still enrolled at 12 months. In the year prior to enrollment compared to the year postenrollment, the prevalence of an asthma diagnosis increased from 7.8% to 10.0% (\n P=<\/jats:italic>\n .005), outpatient visits increased 7% (rate ratio, RR=1.07,\n P<\/jats:italic>\n <.001), emergency department visits decreased 9% (RR=0.91,\n P=<\/jats:italic>\n .002), and antibiotic prescriptions increased 41% (RR=1.41,\n P=<\/jats:italic>\n .001). For those with depressive symptoms at enrollment, mean PHQ-9 score decreased from 15.4 (SD 4.7) to 10.2 (SD 6.8) after 3 months (\n P<\/jats:italic>\n <.001).\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n An innovative ECM program successfully engaged with and retained high-need pediatric Medicaid patients. Program members had higher engagement with other health care in the year following enrollment, and depressive symptoms improved. These results highlight the potential for this model to improve outcomes for the highest-need pediatric Medicaid patients.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.2196\/88204","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]],"date-time":"2026-04-22T17:51:10Z","timestamp":1776880270000},"page":"e88204-e88204","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["An Innovative Approach to Enhanced Care Management for High-Need Pediatric Medicaid Members: Retrospective Cohort Study"],"prefix":"10.2196","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2885-2008","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jessie L","family":"Juusola","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2909-1677","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shefali","family":"Kumar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2550-8535","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Meghana S","family":"Iragavarapu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4326-8168","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luke","family":"Mueller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5555-2713","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Neil","family":"Batlivala","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8530-7754","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael K","family":"Ong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1677-2158","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrey","family":"Ostrovsky","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5755-8262","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nathan","family":"Favini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1010","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]]},"reference":[{"issue":"2","key":"R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"229","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpeds.2015.04.068","article-title":"Ways to identify children with medical complexity and the importance of why","volume":"167","author":"Berry","journal-title":"J Pediatr"},{"issue":"1","key":"R2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"503","DOI":"10.1353\/hpu.2023.0034","article-title":"The Integrated Care for Kids Model: addressing fragmented care for pediatric medicaid enrollees in seven communities","volume":"34","author":"Jones","journal-title":"J Health Care Poor Underserved"},{"issue":"3","key":"R3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.2017-0962","article-title":"Characteristics of children enrolled in medicaid with high-frequency emergency department use","volume":"140","author":"Peltz","journal-title":"Pediatrics"},{"issue":"1","key":"R4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4","DOI":"10.1016\/j.annemergmed.2012.01.035","article-title":"National study of barriers to timely primary care and emergency department utilization among Medicaid beneficiaries","volume":"60","author":"Cheung","journal-title":"Ann Emerg Med"},{"issue":"4","key":"R5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1207","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jaip.2018.10.008","article-title":"Asthma prevalence among medicaid-enrolled children","volume":"7","author":"Smith","journal-title":"J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract"},{"key":"R6","unstructured":"CALAIM Enhanced care management policy guide. 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URL: https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/collections\/a07f998dfefa497fbd7613981e4f6117 [Accessed 25-06-2025]"},{"key":"R10","unstructured":"Pair Team \u2014 Connecting underserved communities to high quality care. 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