AHRQ Child & Adolescent Health Digest

AHRQ Child & Adolescent Health Periodic Digest

Volume 14, No. 47, December 17, 2014   Public Health Insurance Continuity for Children Core Functionality in Pediatric Electronic Health Records AHRQ Grants Annual Budget Cap Raised Quality of Care for Children in Medicaid and CHIP Public Health Insurance Continuity for Children Academic Pediatrics has published a new study from the AHRQ-CMS Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) Pediatric Quality Measures Program (PQMP) Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Center of Excellence on the critical topic of public health insurance continuity for children. CHOP investigators sought to determine reproducibility of public insurance retention rates for children using three different metrics and found that all three metrics demonstrated reproducible estimates at the State level with sample sizes of 2,000, 5,000, and 10,000. They concluded that the complete set of these three reproducible metrics could be used to evaluate multipronged and multilevel strategies to retain eligible children in public health insurance. Go to: http://www.academicpedsjnl.net/article/S1876-2859%2814%2900336-2/abstract   Core Functionality in Pediatric Electronic Health Records  A draft Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) Technical Brief on pediatric electronic health record (EHR) functionality is now available for review. Comments are due no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on December 22, 2014. Note that a Technical Brief is a report of an emerging intervention for which there are limited published data and too few completed research studies to support definitive conclusions. The goals of the Technical Brief are to provide an objective description of the state of the science, identify a potential framework for assessing the applications and implications of the intervention, summarize ongoing research, and present research gaps. The AHRQ EPC developed a draft technical brief on the state of practice and the current literature around core functionalities for pediatric EHRs to describe current practice and to provide a framework for future research. Go to: http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/search-for-guides-reviews-and-reports/?pageaction=displayProduct&productID=2011 AHRQ Grants Annual Budget Cap Raised The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has raised the annual budget cap on new R01 and R18 grants from $250,000 per year to $400,000 per year for projects up to 2 years in length that are responsive to AHRQ Priorities #3 (Increase Accessibility to Health Care) and #4 (Improve Health Care Affordability, Efficiency, and Cost Transparency). For 3- to 5-year grants, the annual cap remains $250,000.  Go to: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-HS-14-018.html http://www.ahrq.gov/funding/policies/foaguidance/index.html#prioritiesand http://www.ahrq.gov/funding/process/dates/index.html  Quality of Care for Children in Medicaid and CHIP The Secretary of Health and Human Services recently released the 2014 annual report related to quality of care for children in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The fifth Annual Secretary’s Report on the Quality of Care for Children in Medicaid and CHIP discusses the status of Federal and State efforts to improve quality measurement and reporting, summarizes State-specific findings on Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2013 reporting on the Child Core Set, and summarizes information on the quality measures and performance improvement projects reported in the external quality review (EQR) technical reports provided to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) by States for the FFY 2013-2014 reporting cycle. The report also features detailed analysis of data on the 16 Child Core Set measures reported by at least 25 States (including percentiles, trends, and geographic variation).  Go to: http://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid-chip-program-information/by-topics/quality-of-care/downloads/2014-child-sec-rept.pdf AHRQ Related Articles Allshouse C. The importance of the family voice in quality measure development for children’s health care. Acad Pediatr 2014 Sep-Oct;14(5 Suppl):S8-9. Select to access the abstract.   Austin JM, Miller MR, Pronovost PJ. Young and reckless? Greater standardization and transparency of performance is needed for pediatric performance measures. Acad Pediatr 2014 Sep-Oct;14(5 Suppl):S15-6. Select to access theabstract.   Dougherty D, Mistry KB, LLanos K, et al. An AHRQ and CMS perspective on the pediatric quality measures program. Acad Pediatr 2014 Sep-Oct;14(5 Suppl):S17-8. Select to access the abstract.   Miller MR, Schwalenstocker E, Wietecha M. The importance of the pediatric quality measurement program in advancing children’s health care: a view from children’s hopsitals. Acad Pediatr 2014 Sep-Oct;14(5 Suppl):S12-4. Select to access the abstract.   Sachdeva R, McInerny T, Perrin JM. Quality measures and the practicing pediatrician: perspectives from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Acad Pediatr 2014 Sep-Oct;14(5 Suppl):S10-11. Select to access the abstract. .