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Prevalence of Risk Factors for Severe COVID-19 Disease: Implications for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs

by: Jay G. Berry, MD, MPH, Jonathan Rodean, MPP, Anna Desmarais, BS, Alyssa Teves, RN, Troy Yang, MS, Lynne Ferrari, MD

Many children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) have conditions that put them at risk for severe COVID-19 illness. Identifying CYSHCN with risk factors for severe COVID-19 illness is paramount to assist strategic planning efforts for vaccine distribution. This report covers the health conditions that may put these children at risk, including how the conditions may be used to prioritize vaccine distribution, how to identify the conditions using health care claims, and how estimating the prevalence of these conditions can help ensure that children and youth receive the care they need during the pandemic.

Report

Associated Grant

A Roundtable Process Plan to Create Systems-Level Change for Young Adult Patients

Generation Patient

This small grant supports Generation Patient’s planning process to create a Roundtable on Young Adults with Chronic Medical Conditions.

Lost in Transition: Gaps in Care as Teens with Special Health Care Needs Transition from Pediatric to Adult Care Systems

University of Chicago

This grant will support the first-ever population-level analysis of the experience of transition for CYSHCN covered by Medicaid. The research team will produce national estimates of age-related changes in outcomes such as Medicaid access, primary care availability, and health care and long-term care usage and spending.

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