| Presenter Information: |
| Presenter 1: |
Name: Vickie Thomson
Affiliation: CDPHE
Vickie Thomson, Ph.D is the State Audiology Consultant and Director of Newborn Screening Programs at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. She worked as a clinical audiologist for 25 years prior to public health work. Vickie serves on the boards of the Marion Downs Hearing Center and Colorado Families for Hands and Voices.
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| Presenter 2: |
Name: Albert Mehl
Affiliation: Kaiser Permanente
Dr. Albert Mehl is a pediatrician and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He has practiced general pediatrics for 23 years. Dr Mehl is currently with Kaiser Permanente. Following his introduction to newborn hearing screening in the newborn nursery of Boulder Community Hospital in 1993, Dr. Mehl became the pediatric consultant for the Colorado Newborn Hearing Screening Project. In this role, he assisted in lobbying for state legislation, and subsequently became chairman of the Colorado Infant Hearing Advisory Committee. He has published a number of scientific papers summarizing Colorado's successes in universal newborn hearing screening. Dr. Mehl is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Improving the Effectiveness of Newborn Hearing Screening, and has served as chairman of the task force from 2005 to present. In addition, he was appointed in 2005 to represent the AAP on the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing.
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| Abstract Information: |
| Title: |
Home, Home on the Range |
| Primary Track: |
4-Medical Home
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| Keyword(s): |
medical home, follow-up, NICHQ |
Abstract: |
The Colorado Infant Hearing Program has 16 years of experience in building systems from screening through early intervention. Although the “skies are not cloudy all day” in Colorado, a recent analysis made the skies very dark. Follow-up from screening has declined over the past two years. Factors that influence follow-up are race, hospital follow-up protocols, and lack of audiology support. One viable solution was to enlist the primary care provider to assist with follow-up as part of the medical home approach.
Several assumptions have been made at the state level. For example, all hospitals are providing the PCP with the screening results. Preliminary work with the National Initiative for Child Health Quality (NICHQ) identified that many primary care physicians may not have the screening results in their infants chart at the first well baby visit. In addition, sample data found the audiologists and early interventionists are not communicating evaluations results or Individual Family Service Plans (IFSP) with the PCP.
“Where seldom is heard a discouraging word” is not the process for building an effective medical home for children who are deaf and hard of hearing. Communication between the hospital screening program, audiologist, early interventionist and PCP is critical for ensuring timely and appropriate follow-up. The development of the medical home system is the role of public health and EHDI programs.
This presentation will provide insights and innovative ideas from the Chapter Champion and the EHDI Coordinator on how to improve the medical home system for EHDI programs. |
| Presentation(s): |
Not Available
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| Handouts: |
Not Available
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