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ICAAP
The 2017 ICAAP Annual Poster
Session will be held on Friday, March 3 at the Hyatt Regency in Lisle, IL.
The Annual Educational Conference Planning Committee invites pediatricians,
fellows, residents, medical students, pediatric nurse practitioners, and other
pediatric health care providers to share their expertise in delivering
pediatric care in health care settings via a poster session during the
conference. Abstracts should focus on topics of relevance and interest for
clinical pediatric practice. For more information and to submit an
abstract, please view and complete the poster session application. Submissions are due
Wednesday, February 8, 2017.
AAP via YouTube
In
a new public service announcement, the AAP offers an
important message in support of immunizations. The PSA, part of a monthly series,
is available in both English and Spanish. Pediatricians Anita Chandra and
Edith Bracho-Sanchez explain how immunizations give children the protection
they need to live healthy lives. The PSA concludes by advising parents to
talk with their pediatrician for more information or to visit
HealthyChildren.org, where related articles will be highlighted.
AAP and Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention
Current
Flu Situation
Flu activity is elevated in the US, and is
expected to continue to increase this time of year. So far, influenza A
(H3N2) viruses have been most commonly isolated this season. Overall, the
viruses identified to be circulating in communities appear to be well
matched with the vaccine viruses recommended in this season's influenza
vaccines. Five deaths in children from influenza have been reported this
flu season.
It is important to continue to recommend
influenza vaccination to patients and ensure children 6 months through 8
years, who need two doses to be adequately protected, receive both doses 4
weeks apart. It is especially important to identify and vaccinate infants
who turned 6 months old since the beginning of this year’s flu season.
Importance of Antiviral Medications
People at high risk of serious flu
complications (such as children younger than 5 years of age, adults 65
years of age and older, pregnant women, people with certain medical
conditions, and residents of nursing homes and other long-term care
facilities) and people who are sick with flu should get antiviral
treatment. It should be recommended as soon as possible for all persons
with suspected or confirmed influenza requiring hospitalization or who have
progressive, severe, or complicated illness, regardless of previous health
or vaccination status. This can help minimize morbidity and mortality.
Initiation of antiviral treatment should
never be delayed while waiting for a confirmatory test result, because
early therapy results in the best outcomes. Educating parents about the
importance of contacting a health care provider early on if their child has
influenza-like symptoms is a best practice in influenza control. While
antiviral medication is not a substitute for influenza immunization, it is
important in the control of influenza. For more information, see the CDC website on this topic.
Strategies to Reach Families
Informing families about the importance of
influenza prevention and control through a variety of messaging strategies
can make a real difference. For example, the CDC Public Health Matters Blog outlines steps to
protect people from the flu. Pediatricians can share a link to this blog
with families and encourage them to take important steps in preparing for
whenever flu strikes their community. Also, consider sharing the Vaccine Locator. This tool identifies the
locations where influenza vaccine is available in a person’s area. Does
your practice have a website or a social media outlet? If not, consider
creating one to easily send updates and reminders throughout the flu
season.
Additional Information
For more information, see the AAP Red Book Online Influenza Resource page and CDC FluView. All AAP "What's the Latest with
the Flu" messages are archived. Members of the AAP also have access to Flu Vaccine Recommendations and Key Speaking Points.
Department of Healthcare and Family
Services
Please
join Illinois Health Connect and the Department of Healthcare and Family
Services for a webinar covering the Title 19, Title 21, and State funded
vaccines. This webinar will be held on Thursday, February 9 from noon-1pm
and will review the new payment policy changes that have occurred for Title
21 and State Funded children. The webinar will focus on the fee for service
(FFS) billing and policies as well as a brief overview on the vaccines
changes in regards to specific billing and policy information changes.
Please register here.
Illinois Department of Healthcare and
Family Services
This
is to inform providers that HFS launched a secure electronic web-based
portal to assist providers statewide in resolving issues with Illinois
Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs).
A major goal of the new MCO provider
complaint portal is to facilitate prompt and fair resolution of disputes
between MCOs and providers. Issues impacting immediate access to care will
be expedited.
The new MCO provider complaint portal does
not replace issue reporting and escalation processes already in place between
providers and an MCO. Prior to submitting a complaint through the new
online portal, issues must already have been submitted to and reviewed by
the MCO in question. If HFS determines a complaint was submitted to the
Department prior to the MCO being afforded an opportunity to resolve it
directly with the provider, the complaint will be immediately closed.
Providers should carefully identify which
representatives within their provider organizations will be designated to
use this complaint system for unresolved issues. The name of the provider
representative submitting the complaint will be shared with the MCO, and
outcomes will be reported only to the provider representative whose email
is entered into the system with the complaint.
HFS staff will follow Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
1996 (HIPAA) privacy procedures when using this secured site and
providers must do so as well as a condition of use. Providers are able to
upload protected health information to the secure provider complaint
portal. Each complaint should be for a single topic for a single MCO;
please do not combine several issues or designate more than one MCO on the
same complaint.
The link to the complaint portal may be
found on HFS' Care Coordination webpage, or may be accessed
directly from the HFS Managed Care Provider Complaints webpage. The
portal is available for immediate use.
WSIL-TV
The
Illinois Poison Center has new data out showing the number of teens who
abuse medications like Xanax increasing dramatically in the last several
years. Almost half of teen drug abuse cases in 2016 involved Xanax and
Valium pills, often prescribed for anxiety. Officials with the Illinois
Poison Center are concerned about the easy access many children have to
drugs and medications, both at home and at school. READ
MORE
By Dorothy L. Tengler
 Research suggests baby brains start laying down the
groundwork of how to form words long before they actually begin to speak.
Researchers have also long understood that certain regions of adult brain's
visual cortex respond to specific types of input — such as faces, objects,
bodies and natural scenes — but the origins of these responses have been
the topic of debate. Comparing the brains of infants with the brains of
adults could help answer such questions. READ
MORE
Yale News
A
new Yale-led study of adolescents and young adults at high risk of taking
their own lives — those suffering from bipolar disorder — implicates
specific differences in the brains of those who attempt suicide and those
who do not, researchers report Jan. 31 in the American Journal of
Psychiatry. "Suicide is a leading cause of death of adolescents
and young adults, and we can’t move on this issue fast enough," said
Hilary Blumberg, the John and Hope Furth Professor of Psychiatric
Neuroscience, professor in psychiatry, radiology, and biomedical imaging
and in the Yale Child Study Center, and senior author of the study. READ
MORE
HealthDay News
Low
back pain is common in school-age American children, and rates increase
with age, researchers say. By the time they're teenagers, nearly 2 out of 5
kids will have suffered lower back pain, a review of prior studies found.
But only 7 percent of teens with low back pain seek care, said researchers
from Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. READ
MORE
ScienceDaily
The
largest ever genetic study of children with previously undiagnosed rare
developmental disorders has discovered 14 new developmental disorders. The
research also provided diagnoses of rare conditions for over a thousand
children and their families. These diagnoses allow families with the same
genetic conditions to connect and access support, and help inform better
clinical management. READ
MORE
Norwegian University of Science and
Technology via EurekAlert!
Previous
studies have shown that adults and young people who are physically active
have a lower risk of developing depression. But the same effect has not
been studied in children — until now. Results from a new study are showing
that children receive the same beneficial effect from being active. We're
talking about moderate to vigorous physical activity that leaves kids
sweaty or out of breath. READ
MORE
By Denise A. Valenti
 Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a diagnosis of
postnatal opioid withdrawal in newborns, and it most often occurs when a
mother takes opioids during her pregnancy. Opioids — whether pain
medications or street drugs such as heroin — can pass through the placenta
during pregnancy and cause serious health consequences for the baby at
birth. A recent review in The New England Journal of Medicine looked at the
increase in the rates of NAS in the U.S. READ
MORE
CNN
A
new study sheds light on just how many calories and added sugars children
are drinking. Almost two-thirds of children in the U.S. consumed at least
one sugary beverage on any given day — and roughly 30 percent consumed two
or more a day — between 2011 and 2014, according to the study, released
recently by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National
Center for Health Statistics. READ
MORE
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