AMCHP is pleased to announce that new practices have been added to the Innovation Station Database following a recent review held by the Best Practices Committee, which is composed of AMCHP members and staff.

Cutting-Edge Practices
These practices are in their infancy in terms of evaluation but have a perceived benefit to MCH populations.

Emerging Practices
Emerging practices not only have a perceived benefit to MCH populations, but are based on public health theory and guidelines, and have an evaluation plan.

• Adolescent-Centered Environmental Assessment Process: The goal of the ACE-AP is to improve services for adolescent patients at clinical practices across the country. The ACE-AP is a facilitated, comprehensive self-assessment tool and improvement process that includes customized resources, recommendations, technical assistance, and implementation plans using Plan, Do, Study, Act improvement cycles.
• Youth Advisory Council: The council pursues improved health outcomes for children and youth with special health care needs (ages 14-24). It brings together youth and young adults who advise and collaborate with the Rhode Island Department of Health’s Health Equity Institute on activities and resources that affect the health, wellness, and transition of youth in that state.

Promising Practices
Promising practices meet all the requirements of Cutting-Edge and Emerging practices, and also have strong evaluation data demonstrating their effectiveness.

• Rhode Island Department of Health Internship Program for Youth with Special Healthcare Needs: The Rhode Island Department of Health’s (RIDOH’s) goal was to address the successful transition of youth with special health care needs to all aspects of adulthood (health care, education, work, and independence), focusing on transition to employment through the facilitation of an internship program within the RIDOH.
• Adolescent Champion Model: The Adolescent Champion Model strives to improve services for adolescent patients at clinical practices across the country. The model brings together youth-serving clinical providers in a community of practice to execute practice improvement through Plan, Do, Study, Act cycles over an 18-month intervention.

Best Practices
Best practices meet all of the criteria under the Cutting-Edge, Emerging, and Promising categories, and are also peer reviewed, extensively evaluated, and replicated in a variety of settings.

• Innovative Approaches: Community Systems Building Grants for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN): The purpose of the Innovative Approaches (IA) initiative is threefold: (1) to thoroughly examine the community system of care for CYSHCN; (2) to facilitate community identification of sustainable system changes and promising practices; and (3) to coordinate the implementation of these practices with agencies, providers, and families in the community.

Innovation Station is an online platform to help you search for, implement, and submit practices in MCH. Innovation Station’s database is a growing repository of what’s working in MCH.