Invitation to Join: Social Determinants of Health Project

Posted on June 22, 2020

Is your practice looking for better ways to serve families who have multiple social determinants of health challenges in a trauma-informed way?

The Maine Chapter of the AAP has an opportunity for ten pediatric or family practices to work together uniquely, with each other and with practices from seven other states, to improve care for children. For 18 months, the Maine AAP Chapter, in collaboration with National AAP, will support practices in developing and implementing more effective systems and processes for addressing social determinants of health, maternal depression, social-emotional development, and resilience in primary care practice.

What is the benefit to participants?

  • Opportunities to learn with and from practices in Maine and seven other states
  • Free education from local and national experts for all practice staff
  • MOC Parts II (20) and IV (25) and CME (20 hours) towards 2021 cycle
  • And, of course, opportunities to improve care for the children and families you serve

Are you a candidate?

Use the following checklist to see if your practice meets the criteria to participate:

  • Our practice provides pediatric primary care, including at least ten 0-6 month well child visits per month
  • Our practice provides ten well child visits per month at the 6, 15, 24, and 48-month well child visits per month. (Note: If you do not meet these numbers but are still interested in participating, please contact us.)
  • We will be able to secure approval from practice leadership to participate in this project.
  • We have (or can identify) a core quality improvement (QI) team who can/will provide leadership and oversight within the practice for the initiative. (Note: The team should include, at a minimum, a primary care physician who will serve as physician champion and Maintenance of Credit (MOC) local leader; a clinical support staff; and an additional team member such as front office staff, practice manager, or care coordinator to be responsible for project data submission. Practices may choose to include additional members on the core QI team. All practice staff can participate in educational offerings.
  • We have (or can recruit) a family advisor to serve on the core QI team. (Note: The family advisor does not need to be identified prior to applying to participate in the project. The role will provide guidance to the practice team and use their voice to represent the family perspective.)

If you are wondering about needing IRB approval, the AAP IRB has approved this project. The AAP IRB approval is usually sufficient for most participating practices since no identifiable protected health information (PHI) is being collected for this project.

The application deadline is July 24, 2020. Please use this link to access the application: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r...

This application can be completed by the physician champion/MOC leader or their designee. If you are unable to finish the survey in one session, you may return to the survey later; however, you must use the same computer and your computer must be set to accept cookies. If you do not have your computer set to accept cookies, you will have to restart the application from the beginning.

For more information or assistance with the application, please contact Dee Kerry at dakerry@aap.net or Sue Butts Dion at sbutts@maine.rr.com.