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ABSTRACT INFORMATION
Title: 'New Statewide Coordination Initiatives to Enhance EHDI Systems in Rhode Island' Track: 5 - Medical Home Keyword(s): community collaboration coordination of care Learning Objectives: Preliminary Rhode Island hearing screen and follow-up data will be shared to demonstrate the effectiveness of collaborating with new community partners . This will provide EHDI stakeholders with ideas to begin similar community collaborations or data to compare with partnerships that may already exist within their state. Abstract: Rhode Island has consistently achieved a high newborn hearing screening rate, although follow-up for children who require re-screen and also those children that are referred for an audiological assessment continue to be a challenge. This is a preliminary analysis of improving the capture rate through partnership with the Rhode Island Parent Information Network (RIPIN), Pediatricians and Family Care Physicians, WIC, and Nurse Home Visiting agencies throughout the state. These collaborations were created to improve the coordination of care by making the appropriate follow up and resource information more accessible to families and family centered. • KIDSNET, Rhode Island’s statewide child health information system, will generate monthly reports listing the screening or diagnostic testing recommended for children requiring follow-up and mail to the physicians. • RIPIN’s Pediatric Practice Enhancement Project (PPEP) places trained parent resource specialists into physician’s offices and pediatric clinics to offer peer support to families. Physicians and the parent resource specialists will use the report to reinforce EHDI goals and encourage families to schedule appropriate testing. • WIC nutritionists and staff will also inform RI families of the importance of early detection and assist with making follow-up appointments. Hearing screening is offered. • The Nurse home visiting program is then contacted to complete the screen in the home. Our goal is to have a consistent community partner message of the importance of early detection and intervention conveyed to Rhode Island families at all stages of the EHDI process by all members of the child’s medical home team. Preliminary Rhode Island hearing screen and follow-up data will be shared to demonstrate the effectiveness of collaborating with new community partners. This will provide EHDI stakeholders with ideas to begin similar community collaborations or data to compare with partnerships that may already exist within their state. Presentation: This presentation has not yet been uploaded or the speaker has opted not to make the presentation available online. Handouts: Handout is not Available
PRESENTER(S) / AUTHOR(S) INFORMATION
Betty Vohr - Author Women & Infants Hospital      Credentials: MD      Other Affiliations: Association of University Centers on Disabilities.       Betty R. Vohr, MD has been the director of Women & Infants Hospital’s Neonatal Follow-up Clinic since 1974 and medical director of the Rhode Island Hearing Assessment Program since 1990. She has been the national coordinator of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network follow-up studies since 1990. Dr. Vohr’s primary clinical and research interests focus on improving the long-term outcomes of high-risk premature infants and infants with hearing loss. Dr. Vohr is currently participating in studies investigating the outcomes of premature infants and the outcomes of infants with hearing loss. She has published 200 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, as well as numerous textbook chapters and has been an invited speaker throughout the country and the world. Dr. Vohr played an instrumental role in the development of the Rhode Island Hearing Assessment Program (RIHAP), which was established in 1990. Based at Women & Infants, RIHAP became the first public health program in the United States to achieve universal newborn hearing screening for all infants born in Rhode Island. After the project gained momentum, Dr. Vohr and her colleagues were invited to present the findings at an NIH Consensus Development Conference, which subsequently recommended that all babies in the United States be screened for hearing loss. She is a recipient of the Antonia Brancia Maxon award for EHDI Excellence, has served as a member of the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing, and recently received the Stan and Mavis Graven’s Leadership Award for Outstanding Contributions to Enhancing the Physical and Developmental Environment for High-Risk Infants and their Families.       ASHA DISCLOSURE: Financial - No relevant financial relationship exist. Nonfinancial - No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist. Tunisia Johnson - POC,Primary Presenter,Co-Presenter,Author Rhode Island Hearing Assessment Program      Credentials: AuD       Tunisia Johnson, AuD, CCC-A is the Audiologist Administrator of the Rhode Island Hearing Assessment Program (RIHAP). Dr. Johnson is an alumnus of Hampton University and Syracuse University, where she received her Doctorate in Audiology. Prior to her arrival to RIHAP, Dr. Johnson was a clinical audiologist in the Washington, DC area and a Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) fellow.       ASHA DISCLOSURE: Financial - No relevant financial relationship exist. Nonfinancial - No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.