E-Update, December 3, 2003

Healthy Steps for Young Children^SM

E-UPDATE

December 3, 2003 Issue

Stories

Reimbursement Strategies for Healthy Steps Sites
Healthy Steps in Chicago
Healthy Steps is Taking Off in California
What’s New at the National Program Office?

Reimbursement Strategies for Healthy Steps Sites

Allentown’s Marketing Success

The Allentown, PA practice, ABC Family Pediatrics, developed a new approach to funding Healthy Steps. The practice markets Healthy Steps to first-time pregnant women through their Ob-Gyn. Core Healthy Steps services are offered to all families enrolled in Healthy Steps. Home visits are offered on a per-visit payment basis.

Through targeted mailings, ABC Family Pediatrics increased enrollment by 41 percent. The practice believes that the increase in patients is generating sufficient revenue needed to pay for unmet program costs.

To learn more, please visit www.epediatricnews.com and read "Taking the First Step," a description by lead pediatrician, Michael Schwartz. (After completing registration for the site, search past articles using the title or the author's last name.)

Grand Junction Makes the Most of Physician’s Time

In Grand Junction, CO, the Healthy Steps practice at Western Colorado Pediatrics substitutes Healthy Steps Specialist for physician time, thus freeing the physician to generate additional revenue. This revenue, in turn, is used to offset the cost of the Healthy Steps Specialists and their expenses. The managed care organization of which Western Colorado Pediatrics is a member recently granted Western Colorado Pediatrics funds to cover the remainder of the costs to ensure that its members receive Healthy Steps services.

Healthy Steps in Chicago

Advocate Health Care in Chicago, IL continues to lead Chicago-area efforts by integrating Healthy Steps into pediatric and family medicine practices. Through this new program, Advocate Healthy Steps provides consultation and guidance on how a practice can become a Healthy Steps site. Consultation and training/technical assistance include the following activities:

Four days of formal training on Healthy Steps;
Assistance in hiring a Healthy Steps Specialist and developing a Healthy Steps team;
Incorporating age-appropriate, developmentally-oriented parent materials into well child visits;
Introduction to developmental screening tools;
Guidance on conducting home visits and parent groups; and
Assistance in integrating Reach out and Read^TM and other services.

A Healthy Steps consultant works with the practice one day per week, or the equivalent, for approximately six months. After that time, the consultant provides on-site or telephone technical assistance monthly for several months and then quarterly, as needed. Participants also will be invited to future training sessions.

Advocate Bethany Hospital staff continues to provide prenatal information to pregnant inmates in the Cook County jail system. Some of these women have delivered their babies at Advocate hospitals.

In addition, Advocate continues to work with DuPage County in its effort to build Healthy Steps into its public health system. DuPage County has hired a Healthy Steps Specialist to coordinate the program and train public health nurses in the approach. Eight have already been trained and are working part-time in medical practices. An additional forty are currently being trained. The Illinois Department of Human Services is closely watching this program for possible replication.

Healthy Steps is Taking Off in California

University California San Francisco – Fresno Department of Pediatrics Residency Training Program is the 25th new site to offer Healthy Steps services since enrollment in the program was reopened in 2001. To kick of the program the Fresno Department of Pediatrics held a Healthy Steps training workshop November 14-17 for pediatric clinicians, residents, nurses, and Healthy Steps Specialists. The Healthy Steps training workshop leaders from the Boston University School of Medicine included Barry Zuckerman, MD, Margot Kaplan-Sanoff, Ed.D, and Ann Adalist-Estrin, MS Ed. The trainers provided expertise on the following Healthy Steps practices, among others:

Improved observation skills to understand infant and toddler behavior;
The ability to recognize “teachable moments” during well child visits;
Improved clinical interviewing skills; and
Strategies for developmental surveillance.

If you are interested in participating in a Healthy Steps training workshop please contact Margot Kaplan-Sanoff at 617-464-4767 or via email at sanoff@BU.edu.

What’s New at the National Program Office?

The Healthy Steps National Program Office will continue to operate through summer 2005. The focus will be on establishing an institutional home for Healthy Steps and maintaining and developing partnerships with the major medical groups. The program aims to incorporate the Healthy Steps approach as the standard of care for all families with newborns. In addition, Healthy Steps will seek to ensure that key clinicians are well trained in the behavioral and developmental approach to early childhood care, which is the essence of Healthy Steps.
Another priority area will be the development of an effective communications and marketing strategy to increase awareness and educate mothers, fathers, grandparents, health professions, employers, health plans, and government agencies on the value of Healthy Steps. And of course, working closely with the Boston University Training and Technical Assistance Team, the Program Office will continue to assist new sites as they implement the Healthy Steps approach.

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.