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 Tennessee, 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.

References
_{^{1 Maciosek, Michael V. “Greater Use Of Preventive Services In U.S. Health Care Could Save Lives At Little Or No Cost.” Health Affairs 29.9 (2010): 1656-660.}}
_{^{2 CMS Form-416 Reporting, https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/benefits/epsdt/index.html}}
_{^{3 Schor EL. Rethinking Well-Child Care. Pediatrics 2004;114: 210-216}}
^{_{4 Committee on Quality of Health Care in America. Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 2001:4}}

This project will assist ambulatory pediatric practices in improving annual, well care visit completion rates. These rates will increase through the implementation and sustainment of several process changes.

Click here for the full Well Child project summary.

AIM

To increase the percentage of children seen in office who are up to date on their last well check up by 5% for children ages 0-21 over the 6-12 month project.

The evidence based process changes include:

Using practice billing data to identify active patients not completing annual well care
Create a monthly recall system
Assess the well child visit completion status at each acute visit
Scheduling next well care at each visit
Perform well care elements at acute visits
Other process developed by practice leadership
Annual learning collaborative session