NEWS & ARCHIVE

NCCA Blog – “Families have been the real game changers:” Team Minnesota’s Journey to Fully Integrating Family Leaders

Team Minnesota initially took part in the National Care Coordination Academy (NCCA) to learn and share with others who care for similar patients. In this interview, Kari Kubiatowicz, BSN, RN, Director of Care Management at Gillette Children’s and co-leader of Minnesota’s NCCA team, discusses how her team’s work through the CMC CoIIN and the NCCA led to increased family engagement and growth of their care coordination model. This conversation has been edited for length and...... More

NCCA Blog – “Bringing families to the center and empowering them to lead their child’s care:” Team Texas’s Vision for Transforming the Complex Care System

Team Texas participated in the National Care Coordination Academy (NCCA) to continue the family-centered care coordination work they started as part of the Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network to Advance Care for Children with Medical Complexity (CMC CoIIN). According to Ivy Goldstein, State CSHCN Health Coordinator and CMC CoIIN Program Lead, and Rahel Berhane, MD, Medical Director of the Children’s Comprehensive Care Program, the NCCA has allowed Team Texas to further refine their care strategies...... More

NCCA Blog – “We try to do the right thing, at the right time, for the right person:” Team Indiana’s Approach to Care Coordination

Team Indiana chose to participate in the National Care Coordination Academy (NCCA) to learn and share with other care coordination innovators. In this interview, Mary Ciccarelli, MD, Clinical Director for Team Indiana, discusses how participation in the NCCA assisted in her team’s journey toward expanding care coordination services across the state. Their care coordination innovations include a training and coaching curriculum for care coordinators and Care Coordination Playbooks to facilitate system navigation. This conversation has...... More

NCCA Blog: Interview with Richard Antonelli, MD, and Heather Pomella, NP

The National Care Coordination Academy (NCCA) is a collaboration between the Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network to Advance Care for Children with Medical Complexity (CMC CoIIN) and Boston Children's Hospital. This two-year program has assisted state teams in building sustainability for their care coordination models for CMC. In this interview, Richard Antonelli, MD and Heather Pomella, NP, Medical Director and Manager of the NCCA respectively, discuss how the CCA came to be and the impact...... More

New HRSA Funding Awarded to CMC CoIIN Project to Improve Care Delivery for Children with Medical Complexity

CISWH researchers forge ahead in their work to improve the lives of children with medical complexities and their families.... More

Multidisciplinary Care Coordination Training for Children with Medical Complexity: The Arizona Experience Innovative and Promising Practice in Pediatric Medical Home Implementation

Phoenix Children's Hospital and the Arizona state Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Title V / Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN) program collaborated to adapt and implement content from the curriculum to enhance care coordination for children with medical complexity (CMC) and their families seen at Phoenix Children's Hospital. The adaptation was very successful, and planning is underway to facilitate additional trainings on shared plans of care and family-professional partnerships with care...... More

Viewpoint: ‘Family Burden’ and ‘Medical Complexity’: Wrestling with Meaning, Impact of Common Terminology

Our very own Meg Comeau, a long-time CSHCN professional and the Principle Investigator for The Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network to Advance Care (CoIIN) for Children with Medical Complexities (CMC), suggests that commonly used terms such as “family burden” and “medical complexity” are viewed differently by parents and professionals, with consequent impact on how services are provided. She proposes reconciling those views, with the goal of creating a better system of care. Read more.... More

Disparities in Inpatient Intensity of End-of-Life Care for Complex Chronic Conditions

Children with medical complexities (CMC) need a disproportionate share of health care services and have high mortality rates, but little is known about their end-of-life care. This article looks at the sociodemographic disparities in the intensity of end-of-life care for CMC and whether or not they are receiving high-quality and goal-concordant care end-of-life care. Read more.... More

Not Just Along For The Ride: Families Are The Engine That Drives Pediatric Home Health Care

Care Cara Coleman from Family Voices gives insight on how families of children and youth with special health care needs and disabilities play a key role in home- and community-based services for their children. Cara's blog offers a meaningful perspective on how families are not passive observers in pediatric health care, but active participants in the system. Read more.... More

Asking Difficult Questions: Quality of Life and End of Life Conversations by Cara Coleman, Family Voices National

This article by our own Cara Coleman was featured in the 2019 Exception Parent-Physician-Patient-People (EP) Guide: Navigating Special Needs Resources. It includes both a poignant, down-to-earth and refreshingly honest approach to the topic, as well as a host of tangible resources, not just for end of life, but for quality of life for CMC and their families.... More

Psychosocial Factors in Children and Youth With Special Health Care Needs and Their Families

Pediatricians need to be aware of the potential impact of psychosocial factors on the health and well-being of CSHCN and their families, according to a clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics recently published in Pediatrics. The report provides guidance for pediatric providers to facilitate and coordinate care and urges pediatric practices to collaborate with behavioral health providers, schools, social services, and other community agencies that are part of their patient’s life. Dennis Kuo...... More

How States Can Better Engage Medicaid Patients

This blog post shares practical, insightful suggestions from experts regarding how state Medicaid agencies can better engage patients in the policymaking and implementation process.... More

Using Pay for Success in Medicaid Managed Care and Value-Based Purchasing Initiatives

This blog post explores what Pay for Success can bring to Medicaid and how it can be integrated into managed care and value-based purchasing.... More

Health Policy News Briefing: Investigations

Researchers in Minnesota recently found that a shortage of home care nursing staff contributed to increased costs and hospital length-of-stay for medically complex children with intensive care needs. Author Rhonda Cady is a member of the Minnesota State Team.... More

Blueprint for Complex Care: Article and Webinar

The Blueprint for Complex Care provides an article and a webinar highlighting innovations and opportunities to improve care for individuals with complex health.... More

Health Policy News Briefing: Cost & Quality

Cost and Quality: A new study suggests that a structured communication intervention involving families, physicians, and nurses on pediatric units can reduce the rate of harmful medical errors and improve family experience and communication processes. Researchers studied the intervention across seven North American hospitals and found that it was associated with a 38% reduction in harmful errors (preventable medical errors), increased family and nurse engagement, and did not change the duration of rounds or trainee...... More

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau needs your innovative idea for a health issue affecting moms & kids!

Read more on the Challenges that will help moms and kids ... More

Measure What Matters: Advancing Multidisciplinary Care Coordination in Primary and Subspecialty Care Settings
 Webinar Recording, Faculty Presentations, and Answers to Audience Questions Now Available

Presented by the National Center for Medical Home Implementation (NCMHI) and the National Center for Care Coordination Technical Assistance, this 2-part recorded webinar series showcases real-world experiences from diverse health care providers with the common goal of capturing the value of care coordination using the Care Coordination Measurement Tool (CCMT)*. Webinar faculty describe their objectives for measuring care coordination, experiences in implementing the tool, and the implications of capturing the value of care coordination. Webinar recordings, faculty...... More

Is your state team working on care coordination as one of its focus areas? You might be interested in the MCHB Care Coordination for Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) Challenge

The Care Coordination for CSHCN Challenge will award $375,000 in prizes to support the creation of tech innovations to help families and case managers with the care and coordination of children with special health care needs. What is the goal of the Care Coordination for CSHCN Challenge? This Challenge will support the development and testing of low-cost, scalable tech innovations to meet the information needs of families of CSHCN, particularly those with complex medical conditions,...... More

The Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education Payment Program Quality Bonus System

The FY2019 application guidance for the Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education program has been released.  Here is the link to the HRSA webpage where you can download the NOFO https://bhw.hrsa.gov/fundingopportunities/?id=9c452296-3869-43fc-9069-9fe0f5c78d87... More

Recent webinar from June 28, 2018: A Conversation on Models of Care Delivery for Children with Medical Complexity

Sponsored by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. The slides and a recording of the conversation, including links to related information are available here.... More

Upcoming webinar on July 26, 2018: A Conversation on Care Coordination for Children with Medical Complexity: Whose Care Is It, Anyway?

Sponsored by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. Registration is now open, please visit lpfch.org/aapsupplement for all the details.... More

Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health to Spearhead Nationwide Multidisciplinary Initiative to Advance Care for Children with Medical Complexity

Boston (Sept. 1, 2017) – The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau has awarded the Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health (CISWH) at the Boston University (BU) School of Social Work funding to lead a project aimed at testing and spreading innovative care delivery and payment models for children with medical complexity (CMC).... More