Since 1996 CRISS has been working to create a regional seamless system of care for the CCS children in a 25-county region in Northern California.  This region encompasses the following counties:

• Alameda
• Butte
• Colusa
• Contra Costa
• El Dorado
• Glenn
• Humboldt
• Marin
• Mendocino
• Napa
• Placer
• Sacramento
• San Francisco
• San Joaquin
• San Mateo
• Santa Clara
• Santa Cruz
• Shasta
• Solano
• Sonoma
• Stanislaus
• Sutter
• Tehama
• Yolo
• Yuba

CRISS includes:

• American Academy of Pediatrics, CA Dist.
• California Children's Hospital Association
• CARE Parent Network
• CCS Programs of Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Placer, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Yolo, and Yuba County
• Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland
• Children's Specialty Care Coalition
• Community Gatepath
• Colusa County Family Resource Center
• Family Resource Network of Alameda County
• Family Resource Network of San Joaquin County
• Family Voices of California
• Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
• Matrix Parent Network and Resource Center
• Parents Helping Parents
• Peaks and Valleys
• Rowell Family Empowerment of Northern Ca
• Safe Passage Family Resource Center
• Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System
• Support for Families of Children with Disabilities
• Sutter County Parent Network
• Sutter Medical Center
• The Special Needs Connection
• UC Davis Medical Center
• UCSF Children's Hospital
• WarmLine Family Resource Center
• Yuba County Family Resource Network
  
  

What We Do

We bring together the three major CCS stakeholder groups in a cohesive regional coalition for collaboration and planning. 

Our goals are to:

• Maintain a consistent regional vehicle for coordination and collaboration in the CRISS region.

• Promote family-centered care and medical homes for children with special health care needs.

• Reduce cross-county barriers posed by different eligibility and authorization interpretation and processes.

• Improve regional information sharing with members and other groups regarding the CCS program, best practices, and quality standards.

To meet these goals, we carry out activities such as:

• We convene quarterly meetings of CRISS with representatives of our three core constituencies--families, pediatric providers, and CCS programs--to share information and practices, identify barriers to timely and appropriate care, and design strategies to promote a strong, effective and efficient CCS program.

• We promote family-centered care for children with special health care needs through annual conferences, information-sharing on strategies for promoting family-centered care, and provision of technical assistance to support local CCS program efforts toward family centeredness. We are particularly interested in promoting transition planning for youth graduating out of the CCS program and creation of parent health liaison positions to work with local CCS programs.

• We review CCS medical eligibility regulations and their local interpretation on a regular basis, recommend clarifications and updates to the state, and agree on consistent interpretation and implementation in our region. These activities help to reduce inter-county differences in interpretations that can disrupt children’s care and create obstacles for large pediatric institutions serving children from multiple counties.

• We develop guidelines for consistent interpretation and implementation of state CCS policy and regulations within the CRISS region. Consistency at the county level makes life easier for children and their families, CCS providers, and local CCS programs.

• We work with State CMS, Medi-Cal and EDS to identify and correct barriers to timely processing of CCS claims.  CRISS efforts helped result in the elimination of EDS edits that limited CCS billing and reimbursements (e.g. frequency and location of service edits).  We continue to follow implementation of electronic authorizations and billing, apprising the state of questions and concerns and sharing information on the authorizations and claims processes among provider groups and institutions.

Latest News

CRISS Annual Conference: The CRISS annual conference was held October 7, 2010 at the State Building in downtown Oakland. The keynote presenters were Louis Rico and Stephen Halley of the State Children's Medical Services Branch. Conference materials are available below.

Conference Materials

• Conference Agenda
• Keynote Presentation: Louis Rico and Stephen Halley, State Children's Medical Services Branch
  • California Children's Medical Services

• Afternoon Breakout #1: Creative Uses of Technology in the CCS Program
  • Distance Learning
  • Electronic Medical Record Access
  • CCS Family Orientation
  • Coordinating Data Between Hospitals and CCS Programs:  Data Reports, Business Objects and Other Techniques to Assess Program Performance.   
    • Brenda Washington has posted a Webinar to the Business Objects website. The Webinar, "Business Objects Presentation: Accounts, Passwords, Navigation, Opening/Saving a Corporate Document", is on the website under Manuals/Guides.  Check the Business Objects website for new Webinars to follow.

• Afternoon Breakout #2: Standardized Testing in the MTP
  • Pediatric Assessments in Physical Disability
  • Click here for a link to CPTA Continuing Education Individual Application and FAQs.
    • PT/OT CEU Application Materials

For any questions, please contact Melissa at mkburke2581@aol.com.