Award Notification
The AAMC's Executive Council voted to confer a Distinguished Membership Award on APA member Paul McCarthy for outstanding contributions to Academic Medicine and dedication and service to the AAMC and the Council of Academic Societies. Dr. McCarthy served as the APA representative to the Council of Academic Societies for 10 years and is a past Chair of the committee. The award will be presented at the AAMC Annual Meeting in November.

Child and Youth Quality Measures Endorsed by the National Quality Forum

The steering committee of the National Quality Forum (NQF) has endorsed seven patient experience of care survey instruments in 2007 in the National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Ambulatory Care: Patient Experience of Care. Three of these are specifically focused on children and youth. These include:
1. The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Health Plan Survey v. 3.0 Children with Chronic Conditions Supplement
2. The Young Adult Health Care Survey (YAHCS)
3. The Promoting Healthy Development Survey (PHDS)

The CAHPS CCC is a 31-question supplement to the CAHPS Child Survey Medicaid and Commercial Core surveys which allows health plans to identify children with chronic conditions and evaluate their experience of care. Developed through the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI) in collaboration with the CAHPS study team, the instrument is now owned by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). To learn more and/or to obtain this survey go to: www.cahmi.org or https://www.cahps.ahrq.gov/default.asp

The YAHCS is a 54-item survey given to teenagers that assesses whether they are receiving nationally recommended preventive health services provided in the context of discussions between youth and clinicians. Eight measures of quality care can be gathered and scored using YAHCS:

• Preventive screening and counseling on risky behaviors
• Preventive screening and counseling on sexual activity and STDs
• Preventive screening and counseling on weight, healthy diet and exercise
• Preventive screening and counseling on emotional health and relationship issues
• Having a private and confidential care
• Overall helpfulness of counseling
• Communication and experience of care (derived from CAHPS®)
• Receipt of written health information and resources

To learn more and/or to obtain this survey go to: www.cahmi.org

The PHDS is a 43-item survey given to parents of children between the ages of 3 months and 4 years which assesses if their children are receiving nationally recommended well-child care services that take place in the context of discussions between parents and clinicians. Eight measures of quality care can be gathered and scored using the PHDS:

• Anticipatory Guidance And Parental Education (Average Proportion)
  Anticipatory Guidance: Providers (all ages) (Mean Score, Non-Linear)
• Assessment of Psychosocial Issues and Safety in the Family
• Assessment of Smoking, Alcohol or Other Substance Abuse in the Family
• Health Information
• Family Centered Care
• Care Addressing Issues and Parenting Resources in the Community that May Affect Child’s Health
• Helpfulness of Care Provided
• Effectiveness of Care Provided

To learn more and/or to obtain this survey go to: www.cahmi.org

NEW DATA on Children with Special Health Care Needs COMING SOON!
The 2005-2006 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs

The Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI) is excited to announce the early December availability of findings from the new 2005/06 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN) on the Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health website: www.childhealthdata.org.

The NS-CHSCN is a national survey conducted for the first time in 2000/01 and again in 2005/06 by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and is sponsored by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Topics covered by the NS-CSHCN are child’s health and functional status, health insurance status and adequacy of coverage, access to health care, care coordination, family-centered care and impact of child’s health on the family. The DRC offers users the ability to compare state-level data on over 60 child health indicators in the survey and to stratify by various subgroups such as income level, race/ethnicity and insurance coverage.

To subscribe to receive the announcement of the data’s public release and to learn more about the survey, please visit the Data Resource Center at www.childhealthdata.org.

Pediatric Drug Label Information

Websites are available which provide pragmatic and educational information on changes in pediatric drug label information which have occurred spurred by recent legislation. These websites are updated regularly. Summarized below is specific information related to the legislation which encourages and requires pediatric studies of products being used in children.

New Labels

1) Best Pharmaceutical for Children Act (BPCA)
Information on 128 drug labels of products granted pediatric exclusivity is available at http://www.fda.gov/cder/pediatric/labelchange.htm.

You will find the indications as well as any changes to the pediatric label that resulted from the process.

2) Pediatric Research Equity Act (PREA)
Thus far 55 labels have been posted with new pediatric indications in the label. To access the information please click on the link http://www.fda.gov/cder/pediatric/Prea_label_post-mar_2_mtg.htm

3) Safety Reviews
Of drugs studied under BPCA 65 have had safety reviews presented to the Pediatric Advisory Committee. Please see information at http://www.fda.gov/oc/opt/pediatricsafety.html

4) General information
To get general information on pediatric subjects and regulatory issues please visit the FDA website
http://www.fda.gov/oc/opt/pediatricsafety.html

Pediatrics in Practice
The online interactive modules of Pediatrics in Practice (www.pediatricsinpractice.org) are now accredited for CME/CE by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. This health promotion and faculty development website is more user-friendly and features fully re-designed Learning, Teaching, and Practice Centers. " [Pediatrics in Practice] will be a useful and popular resource for all of us who care for families with children. It is accurate, easy to read and use, and well-indexed. Try it!" - Elizabeth Hillman, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa , Canada in her book review (APA Newsletter, Spring 2007;43 (3):31-32).

Accredited modules on various Bright Futures concepts (e.g., Health Promotion, Time Management, and Advocacy) are available in the Learning Center, with additional health promotion modules on Health, Partnership, Communication, Education, and Cultural Competency to be released soon. The Teaching Center offers several online learner-centered teaching modules (i.e., Brainstorming, Buzz Group, Case Discussion, Mini-Presentation, Reflective Exercise, Role Play, and Promoting a Learner Centered Approach), as well as the entire Pediatrics in Practice Health Promotion Curriculum for Child Health Professionals, available for purchase or by download. The Practice Center is under development and slated to include valuable health promotion resources, videos, and models of best practice.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
NIH News
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/index.htm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, August 29, 2007

CONTACT: NHLBI Communications, 301-496-4236

NATIONAL ASTHMA GUIDELINES UPDATED
New Approaches for Monitoring Asthma Control, Expanded Recommendations for Children

The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) today issued the first comprehensive update in a decade of clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and management of asthma. The guidelines emphasize the importance of asthma control and introduce new approaches for monitoring asthma. Updated recommendations for managing asthma include an expanded section on childhood asthma with an additional age group, new guidance on medications, new recommendations on patient education in settings beyond the physician's office and new advice for controlling environmental factors that can cause asthma symptoms.

Coordinated by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, NAEPP convenes an expert panel when there is sufficient science to warrant a rigorous, systematic review of the published medical literature to ensure that the asthma guidelines reflect the latest scientific advances.

For the full release, please click here.

Updated 11/1/07