February 15, 2024

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We would like to take the opportunity to inform you of an important research study that can benefit our pediatric patients and families. We encourage you to read the study details below, share with your colleagues, and promote the benefits of participating in this program with your patients.

About the Program:

Marcus Autism Center/Emory University (Georgia) along with 7 other national sites such as Florida State University (Florida) and the University of California, Los Angeles (California) are conducting a study that aims to study the impact of timing of intervention on the outcomes of young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

The study titled Effectiveness Trial of the Early Social Interaction (ESI) Model using Mobile Technology for Toddlers with Autism Identified from Early Screening in Primary Care is a 5-year National Institutes of Health study that seeks to meet the following goals:

• Assess the feasibility of implementing an evidence-based naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention (NDBI) using a virtual platform that supports screening, coaching, and resources
• Compare the effectiveness of starting 6 months of weekly coaching sessions for parent-mediated intervention at different time points
• Examine barriers and promotive factors for widespread dissemination and sustainability of intervention across racial, socioeconomic and geographic lines

Find Out How You Can Get Involved Here

Please participate in this survey from the Georgia Pediatric Healthcare Improvement Coalition for their Acute Asthma Improvement Project. The aim of this survey is to improve care and outcomes of children with acute asthma in the state of Georgia.

Your participation is helpful in identifying the potential barriers and areas of opportunity that will be targeted through future quality improvement efforts. The coalition represents all 5 children’s hospitals within the state and will utilize resources to drive performance improvement across all of Georgia. 

Asthma is considered a high health condition for children in our state. In fact, nearly 9% of our children suffer from asthma, and more than 60 children died from asthma in Georgia between 2001 and 2011.

As you complete this questionnaire, please do not hesitate to reach out with insights, ideas, or interest in helping with these efforts. The questionnaire will only take a few minutes to compete. 

Click Here To Take The Survey

For questions, please contact Pamela Mason at Pamela.mason@choa.org.  

TCCN is committed to Network Quality Improvement and the ability to demonstrate change in practice. As we continue to improve and evolve as a network, the setting of minimum standards is an important step to take in order to ensure compliance and meet Clinical Integration Requirements. 

For this year, we will continue to place a focus on Asthma Action Plan, BMI coding, and depression screening as important measures of focus.

As a reminder, the minimum standards for 2024 are:

• All practices are required to meet the minimum standard of 15% for coding for Asthma Action Plans by 12/31/2024.
• All practices are required to meet the minimum standard of 55% for coding for BMI by 12/31/2024.
• All practices are required to meet the minimum standard of 45% for coding for Depression Screening by 12/31/2024.

Although the well child 3-21 metric is not currently a component of our minimum standard program; it is a measure of focus for this year and we are including it so that we can continue to monitor our progress on this important measure as a network.

Click Here to View the Latest Minimum Standard Scorecard.

As always, if you have questions about your practice's performance, need help with your practice's secret number, or have any other questions about the minimum standard requirement, please reach out to your dedicated TCCN provider relations rep or send an email to Laura Baldwin at laura.baldwin@tccn-choa.org.

We are excited to build on last year’s momentum as we launch the 2024 TCCN Quality Program. We will continue to renew our commitment to excellence by focusing on moving the needle forward on quality improvement outcomes. Our network objectives for this year include the following: to improve well child visit compliance rates, appropriate treatment for Asthmatics, increasing rates of appropriate screening rates for depression and adoption of ADHD guidelines, and continuing progress on meeting network minimum standard requirements by the end of this year.

For 2024, the TCCN Board of Directors approved the following requirements for primary care practices:

• Quality Champion Attestation Requirement for All Primary Care Practices:
• One provider in each primary care practice must complete the 2024 Quality Champion Attestation Survey and agree to participate in TCCN as a Quality Champion

• Educational Requirement for All Primary Care Practices:
• At least one provider from each practice must attend/watch at least one of the educational events planned for this year and share the content with your practice
• Clinical Quality Forums – Spring and Fall
• Professional Staff Meeting – Fall
• Strong4Life – TBD

• Behavioral Health Program
• Review and adopt the ADHD medication guidelines and review practice specific contracted metric performance
• Depression screening – minimum standard requirement
• Requirement to begin coding for positive, negative, or n/a for depression screening result

• BreatheWell Program
• Continue to focus on quality metrics and appropriate utilization by reviewing network scorecards and implementing changes as needed to meet performance goals for the following metrics:   
• Asthma Action Plan minimum standard, Asthma Medication Ratio, Asthma/respiratory related readmission 

• Well Child Preventative Care
• Review and adopt all Bright Futures Standards
• Perform developmental screenings
• Code for BMI minimum standard

• Review best practices tip sheets when sent with scorecards for all TCCN Measures of Focus

• Understand that practices will have to be above TCCN minimum standards by the end of 2024 or risk termination from the network:
• Metrics: AAP, BMI, Depression Screening  ​
• Monthly scorecards will be available to monitor progress
• Work with your TCCN provider relations team to address any issues regarding meeting minimum standard requirements
• Review the TCCN Performance Monitoring and Accountability Policy for details

Thanks again for your time and commitment to TCCN.

Brad Weselman, MD                                                      

Executive Director          

The Children’s Care Network

TCCN is excited to announce our Agreement with AstraZeneca for FluMist has been renewed for the 2024-2025 Season!

TCCN FluMist Purchasing Program offers practices upfront discounts for FluMist purchases. To receive the highest discount amount, practices must place their prebook orders by April 30, 2024 to lock in 14% prebook discount. If you prebook by April 30, 2024, then all future orders for this season will reflect 14% discount.

FluMist Pre-book Purchasing Program Options:

If you participated in this program before, TCCN already has a copy of the GPO agreement from your practice. However, if you did not participate and you have not completed a TCCN GPO Participation Agreement then please complete one and send to Barbara Douglas via email Barbara.Douglas@tccn-choa.org or fax to 770-333-1725 prior to submitting their orders.

Click Here For Information On How To Place Your FluMist Order

In Case You Missed It (please use the links below to review)

TCCN Requirements

• 2024 Primary Care Quality Program Attestation
• Effective August 1st: 2-Week Data Submission Requirement

TCCN Resources

• TCCN RSV Toolkit
• TCCN COVID-19 Vaccine Toolkit
• TCCN COVID-19 Diagnosis and Isolation Algorithm
• Endocrinology Referral Guide
• Nephrology Referral Guideline
• TCCN Seizure Action Plan
• TCCN Allergy Resources
• TCCN Webinar: New AAP Clinical Guidelines for Obesity

Community Updates

• URAC Clinical Integration Accreditation Announcement
• UpToDate Registration Tip Sheet
• Children's Urgent Care Locations, Hours, and Scope Updates
• Antibiotic Alternatives Tip Sheet
• Fever Updates & Helpful Resources Communication

We are here for you. Please reach out to contact@tccn-choa.org with any questions.