Well Child Project

We know that well care is a fundamental component of the improving health of children over the last four decades.  “Research has shown that evidence-based preventive services can save lives and improve health by identifying illnesses earlier, managing them more effectively, and treating them before they develop into more complicated, debilitating conditions, and that some services are also cost-effective¹.”  In the 1980’s the Federal Government and the American Academy of Pediatrics began an organized collaboration to standardize well care, define high-quality well care and increase the rate of annual completion of well care services.  This led to the development of Bright Futures and the codification of well care services in social security regulations as Medicaid’s Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment or EPSDT.  But, the rate of children participating in annual EPSDT screens has slowly declined from 64 percent in 2011 to 54 percent in 2016.  The rates are much lower in adolescent populations (40-50%)².  The current system must be improved through practice collaboration or it will not be sustainable, effective or succeed in it’s current goals^3,4.