Healthy Steps for Young ChildrenSM

E-UPDATE

September 2005 Issue
(Printable Version)

Stories


Possible New Source of Payment?

“Preventive services for children” may be paid for under high deductible health care plans. But even when insurers will reimburse, they cannot if physicians’ offices do not bill and/or do not indicate that the service is “preventive.” Healthy Steps sites should become familiar with the definition of “preventive” in plans they use and seek payment. Plans growing in use often have a high deductible ($1,000 for example), and are often tied to the newly available health savings accounts, or HSA’s. Many health plans WILL pay for some preventive services regardless of whether the deductible is satisfied. At issue is: what is preventive care?

Doctors submitting bills often do not designate certain services as preventive, resulting in nonpayment. Routine well-child care is considered preventive. Developmental screening can also be considered preventive.

We urge you to become familiar with the definitions of preventive care in plans you use and to seek payment. Clearly much if not all of Healthy Steps is preventive.

Back to Top


Healthy Steps Materials Now Online!

We are pleased to announce that The Commonwealth Fund and Healthy Steps for Young Children have made available online Healthy Steps materials for parents and medical providers. Healthy Steps LINKletters, Parent Prompt Sheets, Parent Handouts, Quick Check Sheets, and sample pages from the Child Health and Development Record are now available for download, and many of the materials are available in both Spanish and English.

To access these materials, visit the Healthy Steps Web site at www.healthysteps.org and click on Healthy Steps Materials on the left-hand navigation menu. The materials can also be found on The Commonwealth Fund's site: http://www.cmwf.org/General/General_show.htm?doc_id=246567.

Back to Top


New Curriculum for Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (PNPs) play a pivotal role in the pediatric care delivery system and are important to the success of Healthy Steps.  A pilot graduate program implemented in 2000-2001 at the Yale University School of Nursing, using the Healthy Steps curriculum, was very well received, with more than 90 percent of the participating students rating the workshops as “good or excellent.” 

Now the Commonwealth Fund and the Association of Faculties of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners have joined forces to strengthen the PNP master’s curriculum in mental health, using materials from Healthy Steps for Young Children and other sources. Graduates would have increased skills in promoting preventive health practices, identifying early pediatric behavioral health and mental health problems, and addressing parenting concerns about childrearing and development. 

The new curriculum, which makes use of the Healthy Steps Multi Media Kit, will be implemented and tested in 21 PNP programs, with intent to eventually have it available in all 85 PNP programs across the country.  (For more information about the pilot program, see Crowley, A. A., Magee, T. K., "Integrating Healthy Steps into PNP Graduate Education," Journal of Pediatric Health Care, September 2003, Vol. 17, No. 5, available through the Healthy Steps website publications listing; see www.healthysteps.org.)

Back to Top


New Website Highlights Information About Adverse Childhood Experiences Study

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study documents the link between childhood maltreatment and later-life health and well-being. This data, collected from more than 17,000 members in the Kaiser Permanente’s Health Appraisal Clinic in San Diego, includes details about childhood experiences of abuse, neglect, and family dysfunction. The study documents such childhood experiences and highlights the great importance of a child having a good start early in life.

The CDC has designed an easily navigated website about the ACE Study. This website provides information on recent publications related to the study and its findings. Visit www.acestudy.org for more information.

Vincent Fellitti, M.D., who is a co-director of the ACE project, has been a long-time supporter of Healthy Steps and helped launch one of the original national evaluation sites at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego.

Back to Top


Healthy Steps Continues to Grow!

Healthy Steps is pleased to announce six new sites. The sites include two in Mississippi−Children’s Clinic of Oxford, MS and Sunshine Medical Clinic, Canton, MS−and The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s St. Margaret New Kensington Family Health Center. Three residency training programs include Boston Medical Center’s Teen and Tots Clinic; Phoenix, Arizona’s Mayo Clinic Family Medicine–Thunderbird; and Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy Hospital. Swope Central in Kansas City, Missouri will be open soon. (For more details on the Swope program, see article, “CDC Funding Pediatric Screening and Intervention Project,” below).

To date there are 40 Healthy Steps practice sites, with another six expected by the end of 2005; 19 of the 46 will be in residency training programs. As noted, Healthy Steps is also being used in Pediatric Nurse Practitioner programs across the country.

Back to Top


CDC Funding Pediatric Screening and Intervention Project

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is funding a Pediatric Screening and Intervention Project to implement Healthy Steps in the pediatric clinic of Swope Health Services of Kansas City, Missouri. To adopt the Healthy Steps approach, Swope will increase its clinic staff, train staff in the Healthy Steps model, and designate specific staff roles to facilitate the flow of Healthy Steps services to families. The CDC will provide objective program assessment. Carol Dietzhold, one of the original Healthy Steps Specialists in Kansas City, will continue to direct this operation.

Back to Top


Congressmen Pastor Visits Healthy Steps in Phoenix

After listening to a presentation on Healthy Steps given by Barry Zuckerman, M.D. and Michael Barth to Senators and Members of Congress at the Aspen Institute Congressional Program, Congressman Ed Pastor of Phoenix wanted to see for himself what Healthy Steps was all about. The Congressman paid a visit and spent three hours with DeAnn Davies, Healthy Steps Specialist and Program Director, at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. The photo at the left shows the Congressman with DeAnn (to his immediate right); Nora Carillo, Healthy Steps Specialist (on the left); and Sally Moffatt, Director of Community Outreach (on the right). Note that it is fully appropriate that this photo was taken below an acknowledgement of Virginia G. Piper. The Virginia G. Piper Trust is the major funder of several Healthy Steps sites in the Phoenix area.

Back to Top


View previous issues of the Healthy Steps E-Update.

If you know someone who should receive the Healthy Steps E-UPDATE, please forward the E-UPDATE e-mail you initially received or email bmiller@icfi.com and we will add the name to the E-Update mailing list.
Thanks!