Welcome to the Minnesota Chapter
American Academy of Pediatrics

Minnesota Child Health Care Quality

The Minnesota Academy of Pediatrics Foundation and the Minnesota Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics are committed to closing the gap between what could be and what exists today in the quality of health care for children in Minnesota. Our work in partnership with others to help ensure that every child has a medical home is part of that commitment. And now the Chapter is taking major steps to realize better health care for our children.

In April of 2006, the Minnesota Academy of Pediatrics hosted two events:

1. An inaugural meeting of the CHILD HEALTH LEADERSHIP CONSORTIUM to
   
   
   • Create a collaborative vision, synergy, and actions to improve the health of children in this region.
   • Address community wide health care issues including quality, access, and cost.
   • Advise and support the establishment of a provider-led “Children’s Health Quality Improvement” statewide initiative.

Dr. Charles Homer, CEO of the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality, spoke at that inaugural meeting. His presentation is available (PDF File: 81 pages/1,692kb)

2. “Voices and action in concert -- Improving the Health of Minnesota Children -- A one-day quality forum."  The aims of the forum were to:

• Identify gaps between what is and what could be in the quality of healthcare for children in Minnesota.
• Build skills for improvement by highlighting successful evidence-based models and interventions
• Disseminate strategies for implementing improvements.
• Inspire collaboration and information sharing among pediatric providers and the many others concerned with children’s health care -- patient and family, community, health care organizations, and broad political and cultural environment

Five of the presentations for Voices and Action in Concert are posted here:

Charles Homer, M.D., M.P.H.
You have the power to act – transforming systems of care delivery for children (PDF File: 87 pages/2,324KB)

Kathleen Call, Ph.D.
No access, no quality: Who are Minnesota’s children without access to health care? (PDF File: 23 pages/84KB)

Charles Homer with Jan Rourk, MD and Elsa Keeler, MD and, Ashley Peterson, Lynette Hurrle, Marion Aiken (parent partners in Medical Home Learning Collaborative). The Model For Improvement: A Powerful Tool for Change – The Medical Home Learning Collaborative teams as case studies in using the MFI for transforming care. (PDF File: 26 pages/135KB)

Glenace Edwall, Ph.D. and Read Sulik, M.D., FAAP Children’s Mental Health –Identifying and intervening early (PDF File: 36 pages/207KB)

Susan E. Castellano, Manager, Maternal and Child Health Assurance, Minnesota Department of Human Services
Michael Severson, M.D., FAAP
Todd Otis, Executive Director of Ready for K
We could be doing much better -- Preventive and Developmental Services Provided to Young Children in Minnesota (PDF File: 52 pages/350KB)

The goal of NICHQ is one which the Minnesota Academy of Pediatrics embraces. Here’s how it’s stated:

Our goal is to create a health care system that enables. .

• Children to achieve their greatest potential while causing no needless harm—injury, pain suffering, death
• Families to better provide for, promote, and support their child’s health and well being
• Communities to effectively support healthy children and families
• Society to achieve these results with equality and no waste.

See www.NICHQ.org