Care Coordination, Assistance, Training, Education and Resource (CCATER) Center

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Division for Children and Youth with Special Health Needs (DCYSHN) provides enhanced care coordination services to families of children and youth with special health needs (CYSHN). To expand access to care coordination and improve the quality of life of children with medical complexity and their families, the CCATER Center provides training and technical assistance to MassHealth Coordinating Aligned, Relationship-centered, Enhanced Support (CARES) for Kids provider teams. MassHealth CARES for Kids providers deliver services to children and youth with medical complexity who are eligible for MassHealth and younger than 21 years old.

Enhanced care coordination is a model that goes beyond medical care coordination—it’s not limited to the management of health care services alone. It aims to address the medical, social, developmental, behavioral, educational, and financial needs of families to achieve optimal health and wellness outcomes.

Enhanced care coordination includes some of the components below:

• Family engagement
• Racial equity and cultural responsiveness
• Trauma informed and healing centered care
• Social determinants of health 

The CCATER Center services are offered at no cost to CARES for Kids providers. These services meet MassHealth CARES program regulatory training requirements, including trainings on:

• Care coordination principles for children and families, including needs of populations with multiple co-occurring conditions 
• Racial, cultural, and linguistic equity, including implicit bias 
• Community-based, social service system, and state agency resources
• Educational systems, including Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and 504 plans 
• Shared plan of care development, including learning from and building partnerships with families, with a life course framework

Learn from the Division for Children & Youth with Special Health Needs and our MassHealth partners about how the CCATER Center can support CARES for Kids provider teams:

If you are a CARES for Kids provider and would like to enroll in CCATER offerings or have any questions, please email CCATER@mass.gov.

If you are not a CARES for Kids provider and would like to be, you can find the CARES certification form here or email CARES@mass.gov for more information.