Economic sustainability of a comprehensive care health service delivery model for medicaid eligible children with chronic conditions.

Healthcare programs often begin with funds from federal grants that carry with them the expectation that successful programs will become economically self-sustaining. This article describes one such program for lower income children and adolescents with chronic medical conditions that began as a demonstration program developed with federal funds and shows ways in which it became economically sustainable through following principles based in the literature. In addition, we show that partnerships with hospitals and health care systems are possible ways to sustain programs. We hope that the illustrated concepts and strategies, along with descriptions of successes and failures, may help other healthcare programs in their quest for financial support.