Advocacy: The
Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics has engaged in a number
of initiatives to integrate Bright Futures recommendations into pediatric care.
In 2008, the chapter worked with the Alabama Academy of Pediatric Dentistry to
successfully propose that Alabama Medicaid provide coverage for children who receive
oral health risk assessment and fluoride varnish application in the primary
care medical home. The resulting program requires pediatricians to receive
training from a pediatric dentist and pass a test before receiving payment. The
chapter recently made this process easier by developing an online continuing
medical education training module.
Changes in the state
Medicaid program have provided the chapter an opportunity to integrate Bright
Futures recommendations. When Alabama began the process of transitioning to a
managed care system for Medicaid services, chapter representatives worked with
the Medicaid Quality Assurance Committee in a yearlong process to identify the
measures required of managed care organizations. Among these are several Bright
Futures metrics related to immunizations, weight assessment, and developmental
screening.
The chapter was
invited to be part of an Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs
collaborative for states transitioning to Medicaid managed care. The goal of
this yearlong initiative is for states to learn from one another about the best
strategies for ensuring that children with special health care needs receive
treatment under the new system. Included in these strategies are many Bright
Futures recommendations related to developmental and behavioral screening.
Learning collaboratives: The chapter also led learning collaboratives on developmental screening
in 2011 and 2012. As a result of these collaboratives, 3,419 patients received
screenings. More recently, the chapter has joined with organizations like
Alabama Medicaid, the Alabama Department of Public Health, the University of
South Alabama, and Family Voices to form the Alabama Child Health Improvement
Alliance (ACHIA). ACHIA is a partnership whose goal is to improve health
outcomes of children in Alabama by partnering with practitioners, families,
payers, and organizations that deliver care to children. As part of ACHIA, the
chapter has launched two additional learning collaboratives: a developmental screening
initiative that includes 7 practices and 20 pediatricians and an obesity
preventing and training program that includes 13 practices and 35
pediatricians.