Michigan
Michigan’s ABCD Screening Academy project built on their work as a Setting the Stage grantee, a project designed to replicate and spread the North Carolina ABCD I initiative, advancing their efforts to provide primary care offices with training and tools to implement and sustain structured developmental screening. Specifically, the ABCD Screening Academy activities in Michigan included:
- Incorporating the 2007 Bright Futures recommendations into their EPSDT periodicity schedule and clarifying the Medicaid billing processes for developmental screening for Medicaid providers.
- Convening an ABCD partners meeting to highlight collaborative efforts by a pediatric office and several community partners that led to successful implementation of developmental screenings in primary care and a model for promoting linkages (including Early On/Part C Coordinators, Head Start, Community Mental Health, and Local Health Department personnel) to improve the delivery of child development services.
- Developing a strategic spread model built on ABCD improvement efforts that will engage stakeholders on an organizational, regional, and statewide basis and to be used in future collaborative quality improvement efforts promoting healthy child development.
For individuals living with complex, often chronic conditions, and their families, palliative care can provide relief from symptoms, improve satisfaction and outcomes, and help address critical mental and spiritual needs during difficult times. Now more than ever, there is growing recognition of the importance of palliative care services for individuals with serious illness, such as advance care planning, pain and symptom management, care coordination, and team-based, multi-disciplinary support. These services can help patients and families cope with the symptoms and stressors of disease, better anticipate and avoid crises, and reduce unnecessary and/or unwanted care. While this model is grounded in evidence that demonstrates improved quality of life, better outcomes, and reduced cost for patients, only a fraction of individuals who could benefit from palliative care receive it. 
