Child and Teen Checkups (C&TC)
Minnesota's Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) Program
The Minnesota Department of Health is committed to creating and improving health throughout the state of Minnesota. Well-child health care and preventive screenings support the mission and goals of healthier Minnesotans. Health in early childhood can have a big impact on helping families to create their own healthy futures. (Refer to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Facts about Child Development.) Regular checkups throughout adolescence help young people prepare to be more independent and proactive in caring for their own health by the time they are young adults.
EPSDT is a federal program required in every state to provide comprehensive health care and dental services for children under the age of 21 who are eligible for Medicaid. Child and Teen Checkups (C&TC) is Minnesota's Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) program. Periodic examinations or screenings are delivered according to the C&TC Schedule of Age-Related Screening Standards.
Regular checkups give families and health care providers an opportunity to monitor children's growth and development, screen for and identify potential concerns, and treat them to prevent bigger problems later on. Over 500,000 children are eligible for C&TC in Minnesota.
An E-Learning module, "Introduction to the Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) and the Child and Teen Checkups (C&TC) Programs," gives more background of the EPSDT and C&TC programs. The E-Learning training page links to this module and several others that discuss the required components of the Child and Teen Checkup screening.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) administers C&TC in Minnesota.
- The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP) provider manual, C&TC section has more information about program requirements, policy, billing and coding, and other provider information.
- The DHS C&TC web page has more information including the C&TC County and Tribe Coordinators list.
The Minnesota Department of Health provides health consultation and technical assistance to C&TC providers, C&TC Coordinators and the Department of Human Services. This includes clinical recommendations about best practices in well child care and training about the required screening components for providers, local public health, Head Start programs and others who provide screening for children.
