Project Description:
The Office for Children with Special Health Care Needs (OCSHCN), through funding provided by the Maternal and Child Health Title V Block Grant related to specific Performance Measures, promotes best practices around providing appropriate and inclusive care for children with Special Health Care Needs (SHCN). OCSHCN has identified the Title V Block Grant Performance Measure: Increasing the number of youth who transition from pediatric to adult health care, to be addressed through this project. The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) has included transition for youth with special health care needs as a core outcome for primary care beginning with Healthy People 2000 and reiterated in the 2010 and 2020 releases.
The 20092010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs reveals that only forty percent (40%) of children with special health care needs meet the transition requirement. Concerted efforts by several associations were made to increase national efforts to transition these youth into adulthood including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians, the Committee on Quality Assurance as well as all Federal agencies through the Affordable Care Act.
In spite of these efforts, in 2016, the Arizona Childrens Health Survey indicated that fewer than ten percent (10%) of respondents, who had transition age youth with SHCN, received appropriate services to make the transition to adult health care.
This project includes an evaluation plan, data collection instruments, stakeholder involvement and a pilot training program aimed at developing understanding, emphasizing importance and implementing policy with sustained practice for transitioning youth with special health care needs into adulthood across the state.
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Specific Groups
