Team | National Advisory Committee

The Catalyst Center is a national center funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and located at the Boston University School of Public Health. The purpose of the Catalyst Center is to help MCHB achieve measurable progress towards the national goals related to children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) by ensuring that all families of CSHCN have access to adequate public and/or private insurance to pay for the services they need.

Catalyst Center Goals
• Expand health insurance coverage of CYSHCN across the country;
• Close the gaps faced by underinsured families:
• Develop and disseminate innovative financing strategies at the community, state and national levels, and;
• Enhance knowledge and collaboration among key stakeholder groups around financing issues

Activities
Catalyst Center activities include the development of a tool kit of health insurance financing strategies for each of our objectives, in-depth technical assistance to selected state teams, dissemination of existing research on health insurance and financing, short-term technical assistance to diverse stakeholders, a series of national “summit” meetings and new research on key health insurance and financing topics. The Catalyst Center’s multi-disciplinary team is working with guidance from a National Advisory Committee and in collaboration with MCHB.

Coordination
Coordination with stakeholder groups, including other national centers and Federal agencies, is a key component of our strategy. We incorporate our short-term technical assistance into meetings conducted by other centers and make our findings available to centers as they carry out their work.

Evaluation
Process evaluation will focus on monitoring achievement of process and product objectives in accord with project timelines. Achievement of outcome objectives will be monitored through tracking outcomes of technical assistance on a state-by-state basis.

National Advisory Committee
Recognizing the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration and communication, the Catalyst Center has established a National Advisory Committee that reflects the multiple stakeholder groups in the patchwork quilt of health care coverage for CYSHCN.

Staff
Meet the Catalyst Center team.