By Tom Lacock
Wyoming Medical Society
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) chapters in Utah, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming have joined forces on the AAP’s HPV MOC Umbrella Project. The effort will center on improving HPV vaccination rates and has netted the four chapters each a total of $15,000 with $5,000 of which going to the Wyoming Chapter of the AAP.
Bill Cosgrove, MD, Past President of the Utah Chapter of the AAP writes: “The overall goals are: 1. to improve the understanding and use of quality improvement QI techniques and skills in pediatric offices, and 2. to make use of this learning opportunity to improve the HPV (human papilloma virus) immunization rates in adolescents in those pediatric offices.”
The Utah Chapter will be the hub, and will organize and run the project. Distant pediatric offices (the spokes) will be included using tele-conferencing. Individual support for the participating offices will be available from the hub. Support for the project including access to QI experts, HPV experts and tele-conferencing experts will be provided by the hub (Utah Chapter). The data gathering is supported through the national AAP Quality Improvement Data Aggregator (QIDA) tools. MOC Part 4 credit will be awarded to participating pediatricians, upon completion of the project.
The hope is to enlist three-to-five pediatric offices with an estimated 10-15 pediatricians in each state. Chapters will be asked to provide reporting requirements at the end of the project period – Sept. 29, 2017.
“Specifically, we hope to Increase consensus among Pediatricians about a strong provider best practice recommendation regarding the HPV vaccine which includes an extension that their office staff and other medical personnel having a uniform understanding of what this means. We will measure vaccine rates to help guide our efforts, with the intention to address increasing vaccine rates by practice and clinician,” the grant application noted.
After the kick-off conference in November, Utah will facilitate monthly one-hour tele-conferences which will include short didactic sessions to deal with common problems, opportunities for individual practices to give updates on their progress (with celebrations for all incremental successes), and open discussions about issues, approaches, and any problems. We expect that these monthly tele-conferences will be held Tuesday mornings from 7:30-8:30 MST. We will consider having a second monthly meeting, likely scheduled for the lunch hour, for those who cannot attend the morning meetings. Each office that participates will need a minimum of a computer with webcam, and internet connectivity.
“The overall goal of this project is to make it as easy as possible to employ QI in your practice, to improve your HPV immunization rates, and to secure MOC Part 4 credit, all without breaking a sweat,” writes Cosgrove.
For more information or to be a part of the project, contact Cosgrove at 801-573-6175 or wecosgrove@yahoo.com or contact you Wyoming AAP Chapter President- Debra Anderson MD- who will link you to the staff to get you started and answer your questions. The project has just started but we need two to three more offices from our state. Deadline to enroll should be by Dec. 15th.