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Children's Special Health Care Services

Children's Special Health Care Services

Children's Special Health Care Services strives to enable individuals with special health care needs to have improved health outcomes and an enhanced quality of life through the appropriate use of the CSHCS system of care.

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Our goals are to:

  • Assist individuals with special health care needs in accessing the broadest possible range of appropriate medical care, health education and supports.

  • Ensure delivery of these services and supports in an accessible, family centered, culturally competent, community based and coordinated manner.

  • Promote and incorporate parent/professional collaboration in all aspects of the program.

  • Remove barriers that prevent individuals with special health care needs from achieving these goals.

 

General Information

Children's Special Health Care Services (CSHCS) is a program within the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. It is for children and some adults with special health care needs and their families.

CSHCS is part of Title V of the Federal Social Security Act. Click here for more information about the Title V program.

CSHCS helps persons with chronic health problems by providing:

  • Coverage and referral for specialty services based on the person's health problems.

  • Family centered services to support you in your role as primary caretaker of your child.

  • Community-based services to help you care for your child at home and maintain normal routines.

  • Culturally competent services which demonstrate awareness of cultural differences.

  • Coordinated services to pull together the services of many different providers who work within different agencies.

 

This is a state program with local offices available to each county in Michigan. Families are sent an application after their child is determined eligible through review of medical reports from a medical specialist. Assistance is available through the local health department for locating and paying for an evaluation by a medical specialist for the purpose of determining an eligible diagnosis.

 

Once enrolled CSHCS can provide:

  • Assistance for mileage and lodging when visiting out of town providers.

  • Assistance with adding new providers.

  • Assistance with the Children's Trust Fund which provides unique services for children with special needs that cannot be provided by other funds.

  • Care Coordination, Support groups, and Community-based services are also available.

  • Assistance in locating resources.

  • Supporting coordination of services.

  • Assistance in learning about the CSHCS condition and specialty providers like doctors, hospitals and clinics.

  • Paying specialty medical bills

  • Planning the transition of young people to adult health care.

 

Children with Special Needs Fund: A donor-supported program within CSHCS that may help families buy certain equipment such as:

  • Van lifts

  • Wheelchair ramps

  • Therapeutic tricycles

  • Air Conditioners

 

For more information:

 

Who is eligible for CSHCS?

Several factors determine if a person is eligible for CSHCS:

 

Qualifying Medical condition:
CSHCS covers more than 2,700 physical conditions when certain criteria are met. NOTE: CSHCS does not cover developmental, behavioral or intellectual conditions. Click here for a list of these diagnoses. Severity, chronicity of the condition and the need for treatment by a specialist as evaluated by a MDHHS medical consultant.

 

Age:
Children must be under the age of 26. Persons age 26 and above with cystic fibrosis, hereditary coagulation defects commonly known as hemophilia, or hereditary red blood cell disorders commonly known as sickle cell disease may also qualify.

 

Citizenship: The client, or a parent of the minor client, or court appointed guardian must be one of the following and a Michigan resident:

  • A US citizen, or

  • A documented non-citizen who has been admitted for permanent residence, or

  • A non-citizen legally admitted migrant farm worker (i.e., seasonal agricultural worker).

 

Eligibility:

  • Is not based on income. Families with any income are eligible if the previous criteria are met.

  • There is a fee to join CSHCS. This fee is waived if the client has Medicaid, MIChild, a court-appointed guardian or lives in a foster home. The fee is determined on a sliding scale based upon family income and family size.


This is a state program with local offices available to each county in Michigan. Families are sent an application after their child is determined eligible through review of medical reports from a medical specialist. Assistance is available through the local health department for locating and paying for an evaluation by a medical specialist for the purpose of determining an eligible diagnosis.

 

Once enrolled CSHCS can provide:

  • Assistance for mileage and lodging when visiting out of town providers.

  • Assistance with adding new providers.

  • Assistance with the Children's Trust Fund which provides unique services for children with special needs that cannot be provided by other funds.

  • Care Coordination, Support groups, and Community-based services are also available.

  • Assistance in locating resources.

  • Supporting coordination of services.

  • Assistance in learning about the CSHCS condition and specialty providers like doctors, hospitals and clinics.

  • Paying specialty medical bills

  • Planning the transition of young people to adult health care.

 

Children with Special Needs Fund: A donor-supported program within CSHCS that may help families buy certain equipment such as:

  • Van lifts

  • Wheelchair ramps

  • Therapeutic tricycles

  • Air Conditioners

CSHCS Additional Information​

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