achia In the NEWS
Happy Birthday, ACHIA!
ACHIA celebrates 10 years and shares reflections from past
participants
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Alabama
Child Health Improvement Alliance (ACHIA). Established in 2014, ACHIA fosters a culture of quality improvement (QI) in pediatric care to support optimal health outcomes for children and youth in Alabama. ACHIA QI collaboratives help practices elevate care.
Achia Practices improve teen depression care
The American Academy of Pediatrics declared a state of emergency regarding child and adolescent mental health in October 2021. With as many as 20 percent of teens diagnosed with a mental health disorder in any given year, the trend became worse based on preliminary pandemic data showing the proportion of adolescent suicide rising. Due to a severe shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists (CAP) with most Alabama counties having no CAPs, pediatricians were given a unique opportunity to promote healthy social-emotional development of children and to prevent and address their mental health and substance use conditions.
ACHIA launches Healthy Beginnings 2024: An ACHIA Trauma Informed Care and Resiliency Quality Improvement (QI) Collaborative
Toward the end of the last century, groundbreaking work by Vincent Felitti and Robert Anda established that adults with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are much more likely to experience lifelong poor physical and mental health outcomes at the population level. Subsequent research found that unmitigated toxic stress damages and changes the genome resulting in poor health.
Children in Alabama are at risk because of a higher level of stress: one in four live in poverty with 16 percent facing food insecurity
Yet, adversity is not destiny.
Practices celebrate participation in 2023 Teen Mental Wellness Collaborative
Alabama Chapter-AAP Spring Meeting attendees learned how to apply lessons gathered from the ACHIA Teen Mental Wellness Collaborative to their practices.
Pictured with their completion certificates from the collaborative are Melissa McNally, MD, FAAP, Partners in Pediatrics; Michael Ramsey, MD, FAAP, Dothan Pediatric Clinic; and Cason Benton, MD, FAAP, Director, Alabama Child Health Improvement Alliance.
early relational health
ACHIA is happy to announce the launch of its new QI collaborative in December 2023. Healthy Beginnings 2024: An ACHIA Trauma Informed Care and Resiliency QI Collaborative will focus on measurably improving strengths-based messaging and enhancing screening and follow-up for perinatal depression, social determinants of health and social-emotional wellness during early childhood well visits. Led by Dr. Elizabeth Dawson, nine participating practices will learn how to transition from "summing the suffering" to "building the buffering" by promoting resiliency and positive childhood experiences.
The ACHIA newsletter provides information about current quality improvement initiatives, collaborative outcomes and more. Click below to read more.
SUMMER 2023
Winter 2023
spring 2021
fall 2020
FALL 2019
SUMMER 2019
ARCHIVES
PODCASTS
Right medicine, right dose, right route, right duration:
Upcoming ACHIA Antibiotic Stewardship Quality
Improvement Collaborative
The 2021 AAP Policy Statement “Antibiotic Stewardship in Pediatrics” highlighted that antibiotic overuse contributes to antibiotic resistance, which is a threat to Public Health. Antibiotics are the most commonly prescribed class of medications among children, with the majority prescribed in an outpatient setting. While antibiotic therapy has saved many lives, overuse can cause harm.