Oregon Health Authority (OHA) officials plan to use data supplied by coordinated care organizations (CCO) to develop plans for improving child health care. The CCOs will create reports based on information they learn about their patients, particularly regarding what their main behavioral needs are.
OHA CCO Metrics Coordinator Sara Kleinschmit discussed the initiative during a CCO Metrics Technical Advisory Group meeting Thursday. She said the goal is to provide services for kindergarten-age children, and their families, that address their social and emotional health needs.
“The purpose is to drive CCOs to address complex system-level factors that impact the services kids and families receive,” Kleinschmit said. “That vision came from what we’ve heard from kids and their parents.”
Kleinschmit said a parent she discussed the initiative with said that when he recently visited a health care provider, the provider was unable to direct the parent to a specialist for the child’s needs.
“That is what this measure is meant to address,” Kleinschmit said. “CCOs have to review reports to understand gaps in services.”
The initiative will reflect a partnership between OHA and other health care agencies, including the Oregon Pediatric Improvement Partnership, and the Children’s Institute. The plan will be formed over a three-year period, as CCOs acquire data. Components of the plan will include:
- Examining metric data
- Creating an asset map of existing social and emotional health services, and identifying service gaps in which patients may have experienced historical social injustices
- Engaging with community members to review data
- Discussing priorities for improvements
- Creating an action plan to improve services
“CCOs will need to identify at least two target areas for improvement to be included in their action plan,” Kleinschmit said. “It will identify target areas, improvement strategies, and progress milestones for each target area.”
Graham Bouldin, the chief quality officer at Health Share of Oregon, asked if there would be an opportunity for CCOs to set up community learning tools, like webinars.
“I wonder if there’s a vision from OHA about sharing best practices,” Bouldin said.
OHA Transformation Center Deputy Director Alissa Robbins said the agency will establish a learning community so ideas can be shared.
“We are going to be able to share more details of that soon,” Robbins said. “We will probably start that around mid-May.”