AAP Medical Home Coding Fact Sheet

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) offers a coding fact sheet that highlights most of the common Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes for the medical home. This resource is updated annually to provide the most current CPT information. For more information on AAP coding resources, click here.

New Joint Commission/HHS-OCR Video on Delivering Effective Care to LEP and Hearing Impaired People

Improving provider communication is critical to delivering effective care for individuals with limited language proficiency and those who are deaf and hard of hearing. The Joint Commission in collaboration with the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights recently released a video demonstrating the importance of providing culturally competent health care to meet the needs of diverse populations.

The US Census Bureau notes that 47 million people speak a language other than English and more than 28 million people have some form of hearing loss, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Health care organizations and providers face challenges in the use of interpreters, translated materials and in caring for an increasingly aging population with possible hearing loss needs.

The video identifies effective and alternative communication strategies and highlights the importance of relevant civil rights legislation, federal and accreditation standards pertaining to language access, in addition to the rights of patients.

National Center for Cultural Competence New URL

The National Center for Cultural Competence Web site has a new URL. The site can now be found at http://nccc.georgetown.edu/. Remember to update your bookmarks and change any links you may have placed on your Web site. The Web site features data vignettes, a consultant pool, a Curricula Enhancement Module Series, and many other useful tools and resources.

MCH Library Releases New Resources for Children and Adolescents with Diabetes

The Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University has released a new edition of its knowledge path, Diabetes in Children and Adolescents. Resources include diabetes prevalence, diagnosis, management, type 2 diabetes prevention, and pediatric diabetes research. Separate sections present resources that address diabetes management in school, medications and monitoring, nutrition, and physical activity. For more information, click here.

AMCHP Releases New Autism Issue Brief

In December 2009, AMCHP released Environmental Scan: State Title V Program Response to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other Developmental Disabilities (DD), an issue brief that summarizes findings from an AMCHP environmental scan of state Title V autism activities and captures key opportunities and challenges that states are currently facing as they work to strengthen systems of care for children and youth with ASD and DD. The brief specifically highlights challenges and opportunities in six areas—screening and diagnosis; care coordination/medical home; family involvement; access to services and evidence-based programs; financing of care; and transition. For more information, click here.

Introducing... New RCSN Resource Directory

The new Resources for Children with Special Needs, Inc. (RCSN) Resource Directory, a free Web site to search for and list services for children and youth with special needs, has launched which will replace the RCSN Database on the Web. A new look and many new features have been integrated; for example, maps show what resources are closest to specific geographic locales, different ways of searching are now available, and users now have the ability to update or add organizational listings in the directory.  The old Database on the Web has not been updated with new information. There is still more work to be done to get each RCSN Resource Directory listing as current and accurate as possible.  RCSN is asking users to ensure the Directory is up-to-date so that it continues to be a useful information source for families. 

Here is how you can help:

• Contact RCSN if your organization's listing needs updating. They can walk you through how to log in and update your organization's information.
• Your organization is not listed? You can add your resource to the Directory.
• See your favorite organization listed, but with outdated information? Forward this on to your contacts there, so they can update their listing.
• Give your opinion. They are interested in knowing what you like on the new RCSN Resource Directory and what you think still needs to be improved.

If you are looking for resource information in the same format as the Database on Web, you can still purchase one of the print directories by clicking here. If you are not able to find what you are looking for in the RCSN Resource Directory, contact RCSN.

AMCHP Issues New Report on the Models of Care for CYSHCN

In summer 2009, AMCHP wrote a comprehensive report, Models of Care for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs: Promising Models for Transforming California's System of Care, for the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health. The report provides a range of models that the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health can utilize as a starting point for mapping out a strategy to transform the system of care. The models are broken down into nine specific areas—overall system of care; medical home; care coordination; cultural competency; family-centered care; transition, palliative, hospice and respite care; financing; and health information technology. To obtain a copy of this report, click here.

Strengthening Nations through Strong Families: An International Alliance in Early Childhood

The Asia-US Partnership Early Child Development in Primary Care has published an electronic conference report based on its May 2009 conference. To read the report in its entirety, click here.