August 2020
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Advocacy for Kids during the Pandemic: Back to School, COVID-19 Community Pediatrics Meetings and Your Voices
Executive Director, WCAAP

The past several months have brought exceptional challenges for children and families' well-being and also for the preventive care and timely supports we know advance child health. WCAAP's community has led with strong voices, vision and action for Washington state children and I know you will continue to fight for what kids need.



Deadline Extended for Provider Financial Relief, Plus Second Round
of Medicare-based Funding

Medicaid/CHIP Provider Relief
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced that the deadline for applying for financial relief through the Medicaid and CHIP Provider Relief Fund portal has been extended until August 28th.  AAP shared concerns with HHS about the complexity of the application, and we are pleased to report that HHS announced it would soon be providing a "more simplified application form."
Second Round of Medicare-based Relief Payments
In addition, we were able to successfully ensure that pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgeons who received an automatic payment from the prior rounds of Medicare-based funding, no matter how small, can now apply for a second payment from the Provider Relief Fund.


Keep Kids Safe, Healthy, and Vaccinated during COVID-19
Health Promotion Supervisor
Center for Public Affairs
Washington State Department of Health

Due to concerns about COVID-19, many families have delayed coming in for well child visits and immunizations. Both in Washington and nationally, the number of immunizations given to children took a significant downturn starting in March. While we've been slowly trending back up the past couple of months, we are still far below average. 



Advocacy Update: WCAAP Members Connect with Legislators
Devon Connor-Greene
WCAAP Legislative Liaisons

Among the many challenges of the pandemic, we have had unprecedented success with supporting chapter members as they meet with legislators from their districts. The purpose of these meetings (nine districts and counting!) is to discuss WCAAP priorities and discover any plans being developed to address the economic impacts of COVID-19.



Foster Civic Engagement: VotER Healthy Democracy Kits
Co-Chair, WCAAP Legislative Committee

As COVID-19 has shown, policy can have an immense impact on health. Voting is extremely important, now more than ever.  I recently heard about a non-partisan nonprofit organization called VotER, which is focused on health care based voter registration. 


Primary Care Model Comment Period Extended to August 7

The Washington State Health Care Authority has released its Multi-payer Primary Care Transformation Model for public comment ending August 7, 2020. WCAAP has identified a number of concerns and/or omissions in the proposed model and has assessed that improvements need to be made specific to pediatric care. It is imperative that Washington pediatric primary care providers comment via this survey.
 


Antiracism Resources: Enli-Approved Children's Books
Secretary, WCAAP Board of Trustees
I struggled a bit with explaining racism to my 3-year-old daughter, Enli. I leaned on my pediatrician backbone of "books can teach for you," and knowing that books are a great way to cover difficult topics for kids. The following are books that I've read tons of times; and gifted to friends and colleagues over the past several months.


Water Safety: How You Can Help
Founder, No More Under

Pediatricians are naturally one of the best checkpoints we have to help increase water safety awareness and put things into perspective. It may be small nuances in the way information is delivered that can get parents to appropriately adjust behavior. 


First Year Families: Advancing Attachment and Family Well-Being
Sarah Rafton, MSW
Executive Director, WCAAP
WCAAP's First Year Families initiative will promote secure attachment between parents and children to establish the foundation for healthy social, emotional, and physical development. We are convening a steering committee of early childhood and family wellbeing leaders as well as a cohort of clinics to participate in a quality improvement learning collaborative.


Smooth Transitions QI Collaborative: 
Improving Safety and Satisfaction for Transfers of Care from 
Planned Community-Based Births to Hospitals
Melissa Denmark, LM, CPM
Audrey Levine, LM, CPM  

The Smooth Transitions Quality Improvement Program is a statewide 
initiative whose goal is to improve perinatal transfers from planned community-based births to hospitals. In 2016, 3.7% of births in Washington State occurred in a freestanding birth center or in the home, with 3.2% of births attended by a licensed or other community midwife.  


New Mary Bridge Children's Hospital on the Horizon
Hospital Representative, WCAAP Board of Trustees

A long-cherished dream will soon become a reality for Mary Bridge Children's: a new standalone children's hospital in the heart of the South Sound. To be located on the current Tacoma campus, every aspect of our new hospital will be designed for the unique needs of infants, children, youth and families.



Noteworthy

Preparing Your Practice for the 2020-21 Influenza Season: A Virtual Townhall - August 11
The 2020-21 influenza vaccination season takes on even greater significance as pediatric clinicians care for patients in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Join AAP President, Dr Sally Goza, CEO/Executive Vice President, Mark Del Monte, JD and a panel of AAP members on August 11, 2020 at 5pm PT for a live virtual townhall to receive an update on AAP influenza vaccination recommendations and engage in creative thinking, interactive dialogue, and idea sharing as you and your practice prepare for the upcoming influenza season. AAP Advocacy and External Affairs staff will also be on hand to provide updates on how the AAP is advocating for members through its vaccine policy advocacy strategy. Register today!

With the COVID-19 pandemic, many patients' oral health is at a greater risk. Dental services have been limited, and many families are still not accessing care. In addition, families' daily routines are upset, and money may be in short supply - both of which can lead to unhealthy eating habits and neglect of regular oral hygiene. All of this makes your work as oral health advocates even more important! Read the Arcora Foundation's Mouth Matters summer newsletter for resources.
 
If you missed the July 28th webinar hosted by WithinReach, Public Health - Seattle & King County, and the Washington State Department of Health, Vaccinating Unestablished Pediatric Patients, you can click here to see a recording.

Autism COE training offered online - next training date is September 18. For more information about the COE training or to register go to https://medicalhome.org/coe or contact Kate Orville at orville@uw.edu for COE training or connecting with other community partners involved in this work.

A new AAP Podcast: Pediatrics on Call, hosted by David Hill, MD, FAAP, and Joanna Parga Belinkie, MD, FAAP, started July 21 on iTunes, Spotify, and wherever podcasts are found. Topics so far include drowning, vaccine hesitancy, safe sleep and racial disparities in post-op, diagnosing autism, and battling racism.

AAP is offering a new video series, Pediatric Mental Health Minute. Designed to provide real-time education to support providers caring for children and youth with mental health disorders, these quick yet in-depth videos aim to improve your knowledge and skills. A recent video covered Mental Health in Infants and Young Children, other topics include antidepressant side effects, antidepressants, suicide, adolescent depression, trauma-informed care, and anxiety.  Watch Now

The I-LABS Outreach and Education team is dedicated to responding to community needs. In that vein, they have launched a new website that contains dozens of new resources curated specifically for parents and caregivers, early learning providers, and policymakers.

Spanish-language Webinar: When the Monsters Live with Us. The Mental Health Technology Transfer Center webinar will address the intersection of structural inequities, COVID-19 and intimate partner violence, and its impact on young, Hispanic/Latino children. This webinar will be presented in Spanish. August 11, 1:00 pm ET. Register here.

Write for us! WCAAP's Developments welcomes member submissions and suggestions. If you have a topic you are passionate about, expertise to share, or a community organization you think others might like to know about, contact us to submit your article or idea!

WCAAP Webinars: View archived WCAAP webinars, on topics like motivational interviewing, brief parent management training, autism screening, and adolescent and maternal depression screening here: https://wcaap.org/webinars .


Coming Up: WCAAP Committee Meetings
Join us! Committees are a great way to meet other members and get involved with Chapter work! Watch this space for upcoming meeting dates and times for Chapter committees and interest groups. Most committees meet by phone or Zoom for one hour. 

Health Care Transformation Committee 
August 18, 8:00-9:00am - contact Tatiana Sarkhosh for meeting details
Meets quarterly by telephone/Zoom
Contact Francie Chalmers to learn more about the committee.

Legislative Affairs Committee
September 1, 7:00-8:00am
Meets weekly by phone/Zoom during the legislative session & special session 
Meets monthly by phone/Zoom during the interim + ad hoc as needed
Contact Crystal Shen or Beth Ebel to learn more about the committee. 

Early Childhood Committee 
Meets periodically by phone/Zoom, 2x/year in person
Contact Diane Liebe or Betsy Browder to learn more about the committee. 

Membership Engagement Committee 
September 8 - 12:00-1:00pm
Meets quarterly by phone/Zoom
Contact Rishi Mistry or Wei-Jen Hsieh to learn more about the committee. 
 
Vaccine Committee
Meets periodically by telephone
Contact John Dunn to learn more about the committee. 


News & Events
What's Happening? 
Many events and gatherings are being cancelled and turning to virtual events. We will try to keep you up to date, and list events here as details are available. 
Thank you to our sponsors: 
WA Chapter AAP | WA Chapter of the AAP | jdonahue@wcaap.org
 

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