Identify replicable and sustainable strategies that enhance access to pediatric care via telehealth

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), with support from the Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau, is working to identify promising practices that enhance access to pediatric care via telehealth during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Promising practices can focus on all pediatric populations, including a special focus on the following populations:
· Children and adolescents with mental and behavioral health conditions
· Adolescents and young adults
· Children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN), including those with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities, and children with medical complexity
· Children, adolescents, and their families/caregivers living in rural areas.
 
All identified promising practices are encouraged to highlight how access to care may be improved via telehealth for underserved populations utilizing a medical home approach. For the purposes of this project, the AAP is defining underserved populations as any population experiencing disparities in access to care.
 
These promising practices are intended to be practical replicable strategies that pediatric clinicians can quickly implement within their delivery of telehealth care. Identified promising practices will be published through the Academy’s Telehealth Playbook on AAP.org.
 
How:
Using the framework below, identify promising practices for your specific area of expertise (CYSHCN, adolescent health, behavioral/mental health, rural and underserved communities). In alignment with the overall grant goal of increasing access to care for all children, please keep in mind the importance of replicability of the practices identified, and strategies utilized within each practice to promote health equity.

Preliminary findings from the project’s needs assessments demonstrate that many pediatric clinicians and practices have rapidly begun to implement telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, many practical strategies and tips for implementing telehealth may be in the preliminary pilot phase of implementation. While this project aims to highlight outcomes and evaluation findings as much as possible through identified promising practices, we also recognize that not all practices may have outcomes at this stage in the pandemic.

Please submit one form for each identified promising practice by 2/16/2021. Please contact Erin Weil at eweil@aap.org with any questions
Background Information

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* Organization Type

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* Impacted Area of Care (check all that apply)

Usability

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* Please describe the telehealth promising practice or strategy. In the description, please consider including the following: 
  • What was the practice or strategy designed to accomplish?
  • How long has the practice/strategy has been in place, and/or what is the stage of maturity/development of the program (development, pilot phase, rolled out on a larger scale, etc.)?
  • What are the core components of the practice/strategy (with a focus on key practical strategies/tips)?

Feasibility

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* Please describe your implementation strategy and keep the following in mind: 
  • What knowledge, skills, resources, training, or infrastructure are required by the provider to implement this promising practice? (Staff, Technology, Training, Partnerships, etc.)
  • What workflow adaptations/changes may be required of the practice/clinic to implement this promising practice?
  • What knowledge, skills, resources, training, or infrastructure is required of the patient family/caregiver to implement this strategy/promising practice?

Impact:

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* Results and Outcomes: If available, check the following results and outcomes.
  • Improvements in access to care
  • Improvements in care coordination and care integration (from the perspective of families/caregivers)
  • Provider, patient, and/or family/caregiver satisfaction
  • Improvements in communication between providers (including generalists and subspecialists) and patients
  • Improved health outcomes and/or similar health outcomes to in-person care
  • Cost savings

Equity:

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*
Increase Access to Care: 
  • How can this strategy/practice increase access to care via the medical home model for underserved populations?
  • Does this practice have any unintended consequences that may further increase disparities in access to care?

Sustainability

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* What challenges are encountered when implementing this strategy/promising practice? How might those challenges be mitigated?

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* What is the potential for replicability to other practices or populations?

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* Contact Information

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