Tackling Systems Change to Improve Access to Incontinence Supplies for Children with Special Health Care Needs

For some children with special health care needs (CSHCN), lifelong use of diapers and incontinence supplies may be required due to their conditions. After hearing of the challenges of families, the Orange County Care Coordination Collaborative for Kids (OCC3 for Kids) leveraged its existing working relationship with invested partners to bring stakeholders together and reach an understanding about the complex processes, as well as the frustrations, endured by parents and vendors. This cross-sector collaboration led the county California Children’s Services program (CCS) to implement an authorization process that flags cases of children who have lifelong incontinence so that they receive diapers through CCS until they age out of the program at 21.