The American Academy of Pediatrics—in partnership with Boston Children’s Hospital and the National Resource Center for Patient/Family-Centered Medical Home (NRC-PFCMH)—recently released a second edition of its Pediatric Care Coordination Curriculum (PCCC). The new curriculum’s title is Pediatric Care Coordination Curriculum: An Interprofessional Resource to Effectively Engage Patients and Families in Achieving Optimal Child Health Outcomes, and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau funded its creation.
Pediatric Care Coordination Curriculum-Second Edition Overview
This second edition, launched eight years after the first, aligns with the Academy’s 2014 policy statement, Patient- and Family-Centered Care Coordination: A Framework for Integrating Care for Children and Youth Across Multiple Systems—and aims to foster partnerships between patients, families, and care teams.
“This curriculum was designed to cultivate new learning about the elements of care coordination, emphasizing the central role of families, caregivers, children, youth, and young adults in collaboration with a multidisciplinary group of care team members,” the authors wrote in the curriculum’s introduction.
It will also “provide tools to measure care coordination activities and support continuous quality improvement efforts,” according to HRSA.
Care coordination is beneficial for all children and youth, but this curriculum brings attention to the treatment of children and youth with special healthcare needs (CYSHCN). HRSA research shows that an estimated 20% of American children under the age of 18 have a special healthcare need, and often need multiple medical care and social services.
To ensure continuous and coordinated access to these services, the AAP focuses on a patient-/family-centered medical home (PFCMH) model of comprehensive primary care—one that “extends beyond the walls of a clinical practice” and builds partnerships between healthcare professionals, families, and community resources. Like the original PCCC, the PCCC-second edition training supports the Academy’s commitment to care coordination activities in such a model, providing stakeholders with the capacity building resources they need to improve their team-based care services.
It’s important to note the new curriculum’s flexibility. Instead of adapting and implementing all the training modules at the same time, facilitators may select modules that most align with their priorities.
“Prior to implementing the curriculum, the facilitator should review all modules to become familiar with materials and decide which modules will best fit the desired learning goals and outcomes relevant to the group’s needs for improving care coordination and care integration.”
User feedback from the PCCC’s first edition shows this flexibility is important to successful implementation. “Many successful implementers planned modules based on local and regional priorities,” the authors wrote.
Updated PCCC Curriculum Specifics
The latest curriculum consists of five modules:
- High-Value Integrated Care Outcomes Depend on Care Coordination
- Developing and Sustaining Strong Family/Professional Partnerships
- Social Determinants of Health
- Measurement Matters: Creating an Effective and Sustainable Integrated Care Model
- Using Technology to Improve Care Planning and Coordination
Each module includes objectives, agenda items and activities, suggested resources (slides, handouts, case studies), and notes.
A multidisciplinary group of professionals developed the first edition of the Pediatric Care Coordination Curriculum as an educational initiative to support the provision of family-centered care coordination activities—and it has been implemented across several states and care delivery systems. The Academy’s updated curriculum is a reflection of their implementation experience and feedback.
Implementation and Challenges
An example of PCCC-second edition adaptation is Phoenix Children’s Hospital, in collaboration with the Arizona state Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Title V/CYSHCN program.
Phoenix served an audience of individuals who care for children with complex medical needs (CMC) and encouraged them to plan for post training action in their practices by completing the new PCCC’s Action Grid tool.
This health system has been successful in its adaptation. However, the NRC-PFCMH details two challenges to adaptation and implementation:
- Training sessions may last up to two hours, so arranging workshop facilitation for the attendance of diverse stakeholders can be difficult
- A lack of financial resources can affect the sustainability of future care coordination training and measurement
To remedy these challenges, the Center recommends:
- Reviewing the content in advance
- Delivering content across more than one training session
- Seeking funding from MCH Title V/CYSHCN programs, health systems, and/or payers interested in implementation of the medical home model
Building Competency in the Coordination of Care Across Systems and Services
Care coordination for children and youth, particularly CYSHCN, and their families plays a centralized role in the AAP’s PFCMH total care approach. Medical and nonmedical factors affect their health and development, and effective care coordination integrates efforts across multiple systems and services—generally resulting in better patient/family care experiences, reduced fragmented care, and decreased care costs, according to the AAP.
Like its original, the PCCC-second edition further supports quality care delivery in communities, by providing an updated version of this engaging resource that builds expertise and competency in pediatric care coordination.
