III.C. Needs Assessment Update - Illinois - 2024
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III.C. Needs Assessment Update
Ongoing Needs Assessment Activities
Illinois Title V conducts ongoing additional needs assessment activities that were conducted to monitor ongoing changes to health status and public health systems in Illinois.
Women’s/Maternal and Perinatal/Infant Health
Racial Equity Data
IDPH began the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers (ASTHO) Data Roadmap for Racial Equity Advancement in Maternal and Child Health (DREAM) learning community (LC) in March 2022. The purpose of this learning collaborative was to help state teams apply a health equity framework to their analysis and interpretation of program data. The 9-month project included an immersive 2-day workshop “Foundational Training in Historical and Institutional Racism” held by the Racial Equity Institue, multiple working sessions with ASTHO facilitation and a data equity readiness assessment. Areas for improvement included ensuring all staff are trained quality improvement processes and increasing the consistent tracking of missing data in analyses. The team especially excelled in assessing how the division contextualizes data to inform racial equity work. Overall, the assessment indicated the team was ready to move forward through the roadmap while still having room to build capacity.
The interdisciplinary IDPH team chose to pilot the Racial Equity Data Road Map using data from the Illinois Regionalized Perinatal Health Care Program in the Chicago metropolitan area. This region includes 50 obstetric hospitals, representing all levels of care. These hospitals deliver 67% of total births to Illinois residents; 71% of births to Black Illinois residents, and 87% of births to Hispanic residents. A summer GSEP fellow worked with experienced maternal and child health epidemiologists to examine risk-appropriate care, maternal and infant inter-hospital transports, geographic distance to care, and other system-level analyses that could highlight service gaps, inequitable systems, and the potential impacts on infant and maternal morbidities and mortalities. the intern presented the results of her analyses to MCH staff at the conclusion of the internship.
Obstetric Hospital Closures
Monitoring the changing availability of obstetric services throughout the state and potential impact on maternal and infant outcomes is a priority of IL Title V and the Illinois Perinatal Advisory Committee. Between January 2016 and December 2022, there were 29 obstetric hospitals closures in the state of Illinois (6 full facility closures, and 23 facilities that closed their obstetric unit). During this time, there were also 3 new hospitals that opened to provide obstetric services. So overall, during a seven-year period, Illinois had a net loss of 26 obstetric hospitals, reducing the number of birthing hospitals by 22%.
Of the 29 obstetric hospital closures during 2016-2022, 13 hospitals were in the Chicagoland area, 9 were in Central Illinois, 2 were in Southern Illinois, and 5 were in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Of the Cook County closures, 4 were within the city of Chicago, and all were in the southern half of Chicago. This area has a high proportion of Black residents, and these closures leave very few birthing facilities available to south side residents. (Only 3 of the remaining 16 birthing hospitals in Chicago are in the southern half of the city, where one-third of Chicago residents live.) Of the deliveries in 2015 (prior to series of closures), 11% of births occurred in the hospitals that would go on to close their OB services during 2016-2022. Black and Hispanic patients and patients on Medicaid had higher proportions of births in the hospitals that would eventually close. Residents of the southern portion of Chicago and suburban Cook County also had higher proportions of births in hospitals that would close; in 2015, 27-30% of live births for residents of these areas occurred in hospitals that would go on to close. This phenomenon of hospital closures is not unique to Illinois, but most of the national attention has been focused on rural hospital closures. Illinois has also seen concentrated urban hospital closures in areas where Black and Hispanic patients live and this has implications for health equity in these urban areas. Further analyses of the differential impact of these closures will be completed in 2023-2024 through an IGA with a health economics faculty member in the UIC Division of Health Policy and Administrator.
Maternal Mortality
Since June 2020, the Illinois MMRC’s have participated as one of two states piloting the use of a “community vital signs dashboard” during case review. These dashboards, which were developed by Emory University in partnership with CDC, provide a summary of county and community-level data on various health indicators such as health care providers per capita, housing stability, violence, segregation, transportation access and more. Incorporating social-contextual determinants of health into Illinois’ aggregate reporting of maternal deaths is important for improving maternal death reviews and helping the MMRCs move beyond identification of only provider and hospital factors and recommendations. These dashboards have increased discussion around social determinants of health and community-level factors contributing to the death. The data included in the dashboards also allow for analysis of the indicators and their contribution to pregnancy-related deaths. During 2022, Title V epidemiology staff analyzed aggregate community-level data and pregnancy-related deaths by county. County-level indicators such as poverty, food insecurity, and transportation were found to be associated with pregnancy-related mortality in Illinois. We are in the process of developing visualizations and incorporating these findings into the next state Maternal Health Report.
Impact of COVID-19 on Maternal and Infant Health
The UIC epidemiology team led an analytic project to examine whether SARS-COV-2 infection during pregnancy exacerbates adverse maternal and infant outcomes among Illinois birthing persons of color. This analysis found Black persons with SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy had an increased risk of maternal morbidity, preterm birth and NICU admission compared to Black persons without SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy did not cause the same magnitude of increased risk of adverse outcomes among white persons. This analysis gives important insight into how maternal and infant health inequities were exacerbated due to SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy for groups already at higher medical or social risk for adverse maternal and infant health outcomes. This analysis was submitted as a scientific abstract for the 2023 CityMatch conference.
Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders among Women of Reproductive Age and Women with a Live Delivery
In FY 2022, a member of the Title V epidemiology staff completed her dissertation research on hospitalizations for mental health and substance use (MH/SU) disorders among women of reproductive age and women who have an MH/SU disorder documented on the delivery record. The analysis demonstrated that hospitalizations for these disorders are common among women of reproductive age; there are 125 hospitalizations per 10,000 population per year. Women living in rural areas, women with Medicaid insurance had higher rates of hospitalizations for mental health and substance use disorders. Among women with a live delivery, 10% had a MH or SU disorder documented on their records. Again, women with public insurance, and women outside of the Chicago metropolitan area were more likely to have disorders documented than women with private insurance and women living within the Chicago metropolitan area. Further, women with MH/SU disorders documented were significantly more likely to have chronic comorbidities originating before pregnancy, significantly more likely to have obstetric comorbidities such as pre-eclampsia develop during pregnancy or delivery, significantly more likely to experience a severe maternal morbidity, and significantly more likely to have a preterm delivery. The results of this analysis have important public health and clinical implications for the treatment of MH/SU disorders in women of reproductive age and pregnant people, and for the clinical and social support people with MH/SU disorders need during the perinatal period.
Infant Safe Sleep Practices and Sudden Unexpected Infant Death
Promoting safe sleep and preventing sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) continues to be a priority for the infant health domain. Infant death due to SUID is the main contributor to the racial disparity in infant mortality in Illinois when all causes of death are considered. Following a sharp increase in 2017-2018, the SUID mortality rate continues to decline.
PRAMS data highlighted how the use of safe sleep practices is not an “all or nothing” approach; in the last 5 years there has been an improvement in some safe sleep practices when assessed independently but not improvements in all practices. Thus, more detailed analyses were needed to understand the context in which families were adopting certain safe sleep practices. The UIC epidemiology team led an analytic project using PRAMS data to examine the prevalence of individual safe infant sleep practices by selected maternal characteristics and to assess variation in patterns of use by selected maternal characteristics. The analysis utilized a non-hierarchical cluster analysis to examine different patterns of safe sleep practices across the population, with a focus in how patterns varied among families of non-Hispanic white and Black infants. As of April 2023, a manuscript is being prepared for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. These findings were used to inform ongoing safe sleep initiatives and provide additional context to Illinois' surveillance of sleep-related infant mortality.
Child and Adolescent Health
Youth suicide
Youth suicide and suicidal behavior remain top priorities for the Illinois Title V program. In January 2022, the Title V program finalized a data report on adolescent suicidal behavior and mortality, led by the program’s CSTE fellow. This report included trends in suicidal behavior among Illinois adolescents, including suicidal ideation and attempt, from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Data from 2017-2019 were analyzed and the report included many risk factors for adolescent suicide, including violence victimization, physical activity, and substance use. In addition to data on risk factors and behaviors, data on adolescent suicide mortality from 2010-2020 were analyzed and included in the report. Deaths were analyzed by youth age, sex, race/ethnicity, and urbanicity. The report demonstrated that suicide death is either steady or increasing in every group studied. Of particular importance, suicide deaths are increasing significantly among female, urban, and youth of color, groups traditionally considered to be lower risk for death from suicide. This report was shared with many stakeholders and partners. The program used the report to author a public-facing 2-page fact sheet that was shared widely.
Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs
In the summer of 2022, UIC-DSCC hired Dr. Ebonie Zielinski as the new Assistant Director of Research and Practice Initiatives. This new position is part of the Systems of Care Team within UIC-DSCC and will focus on population health needs of CYSHCN across Illinois. Dr. Zielinski will also be the lead in overseeing the CYSHCN focused elements of the next five-year needs assessment.
Home Nursing Workforce Assessment
During October 2021, UIC-DSCC completed a survey to better understand current rates of pay for nurses providing care in the home setting to UIC-DSCC Home Care Program participants. This survey was sent to home nursing agencies who are currently enrolled to provide in-home shift-based nursing care in Illinois, and a similar survey was also sent to the families of individuals receiving in-home shift-based nursing care. Additionally, UIC-DSCC worked with other states to benchmark on Medicaid rates of pay for in-home nursing care. The survey responses and benchmarking information were combined with family focus groups UIC-DSCC completed during FFY 2021 and home nursing claims data in a report provided to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family services in October 2022 with recommendations on ways to continue to improve caregiver support for families of children with medical complexity in Illinois.
Social Determinants of Health
During the summer of 2022, the Title V epidemiology staff and DSCC collaborated to supervise two Title V summer interns. The interns completed a mixed methods analysis on the impact of social determinants of health (SDoH) on CYSHCN. Over the course of their internship, the interns reviewed how other states address SDoH in their CYSHCN programs and conducted a literature review to understand the SDoH most impactful in this population. They completed key informant interviews with families and healthcare providers and an analysis of National Survey of Children’s Health data. They concluded that CYSHCN and their families have many needs related to SDoH. In particular, families report that financial resources are a source of stress and limit the care and services they can access. In addition, health insurance is a barrier to receiving adequate care. Families often struggle to find providers who accept their insurance or find that insurance will not cover all the care and services they believe their children need. The results of this analysis are being used to inform ongoing programming provided by DSCC and were shared with partners and healthcare providers.
Emerging Public Health Issues and Future Needs Assessment Activities
Emerging Issues in Maternal and Infant Health
During 2023, we will continue to assess the needs of Illinois’ birthing persons and infants particularly as related to our regionalized perinatal system, obstetric hospital closures, and maternity care deserts. In September 2022, we executed a new intergovernmental agreement project order with a faculty member in the Division of Health Policy and Administration at the UIC School of Public Health for assistance with these analyses. During this two year project, we will develop composite indices to quantify the level of access to maternity care throughout the state, assess how this index is associated with health service outcomes like adequacy of prenatal care, and will examine the impact of obstetric hospital closures on maternity care access and maternal and infant outcomes.
To inform the revisions to the administrative code for the regionalized perinatal hospital system, Illinois Title V plans to implement the Levels of Care Assessment Tool (LOCATe) for the second time in late 2023. LOCATe is a tool developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that surveys hospitals about their personnel, resources, and policies, and assigns expected levels of maternal and neonatal levels of care, based on guidance from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology/Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Illinois previously implemented LOCATe during 2015-2016 and the data from that assessment were critical in leading the state to decide to revise the perinatal hospital code. The updated version of the assessment will be edited to include additional survey questions specific relevant policy and systems issues in Illinois. The findings from this assessment will be shared with the state Perinatal Advisory Committee, levels of care workgroups, and other relevant stakeholders involved in the regionalized perinatal system.
Emerging Issues in Child and Adolescent Health
The Illinois Title V program remains dedicated to improving the mental health of children and adolescents. The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for young people and there have been national published reports of an increase in emergency room and inpatient care for mental health conditions among children and adolescents. During FY 2024, the Title V program will conduct an analysis on children and youth in Illinois who seek care for mental and behavioral health conditions in hospital emergency rooms and inpatient units. The analyses will examine hospital encounters by patient age, race, sex, and region of the state. The role of accessibility of outpatient care will be examined and racial/ethnic and social disparities will be identified. A final report will be distributed to partners working in pediatric mental and behavioral healthcare and shared with stakeholder groups.
Emerging Issues for Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs
UIC-DSCC continues to work to better understand how the social determinants of health affect families of children and youth with special health care needs and to further identify opportunities for care coordination to be impactful addressing social determinant related needs. UIC-DSCC is also working to make available additional education to Illinois residents on the impact of social determinants of health on the care of a child with special health care needs.
III.C. Needs Assessment Update
Ongoing Needs Assessment Activities
Illinois Title V conducts ongoing additional needs assessment activities that were conducted to monitor ongoing changes to health status and public health systems in Illinois.
Women’s/Maternal and Perinatal/Infant Health
Racial Equity Data
IDPH began the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers (ASTHO) Data Roadmap for Racial Equity Advancement in Maternal and Child Health (DREAM) learning community (LC) in March 2022. The purpose of this learning collaborative was to help state teams apply a health equity framework to their analysis and interpretation of program data. The 9-month project included an immersive 2-day workshop “Foundational Training in Historical and Institutional Racism” held by the Racial Equity Institue, multiple working sessions with ASTHO facilitation and a data equity readiness assessment. Areas for improvement included ensuring all staff are trained quality improvement processes and increasing the consistent tracking of missing data in analyses. The team especially excelled in assessing how the division contextualizes data to inform racial equity work. Overall, the assessment indicated the team was ready to move forward through the roadmap while still having room to build capacity.
The interdisciplinary IDPH team chose to pilot the Racial Equity Data Road Map using data from the Illinois Regionalized Perinatal Health Care Program in the Chicago metropolitan area. This region includes 50 obstetric hospitals, representing all levels of care. These hospitals deliver 67% of total births to Illinois residents; 71% of births to Black Illinois residents, and 87% of births to Hispanic residents. A summer GSEP fellow worked with experienced maternal and child health epidemiologists to examine risk-appropriate care, maternal and infant inter-hospital transports, geographic distance to care, and other system-level analyses that could highlight service gaps, inequitable systems, and the potential impacts on infant and maternal morbidities and mortalities. the intern presented the results of her analyses to MCH staff at the conclusion of the internship.
Obstetric Hospital Closures
Monitoring the changing availability of obstetric services throughout the state and potential impact on maternal and infant outcomes is a priority of IL Title V and the Illinois Perinatal Advisory Committee. Between January 2016 and December 2022, there were 29 obstetric hospitals closures in the state of Illinois (6 full facility closures, and 23 facilities that closed their obstetric unit). During this time, there were also 3 new hospitals that opened to provide obstetric services. So overall, during a seven-year period, Illinois had a net loss of 26 obstetric hospitals, reducing the number of birthing hospitals by 22%.
Of the 29 obstetric hospital closures during 2016-2022, 13 hospitals were in the Chicagoland area, 9 were in Central Illinois, 2 were in Southern Illinois, and 5 were in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Of the Cook County closures, 4 were within the city of Chicago, and all were in the southern half of Chicago. This area has a high proportion of Black residents, and these closures leave very few birthing facilities available to south side residents. (Only 3 of the remaining 16 birthing hospitals in Chicago are in the southern half of the city, where one-third of Chicago residents live.) Of the deliveries in 2015 (prior to series of closures), 11% of births occurred in the hospitals that would go on to close their OB services during 2016-2022. Black and Hispanic patients and patients on Medicaid had higher proportions of births in the hospitals that would eventually close. Residents of the southern portion of Chicago and suburban Cook County also had higher proportions of births in hospitals that would close; in 2015, 27-30% of live births for residents of these areas occurred in hospitals that would go on to close. This phenomenon of hospital closures is not unique to Illinois, but most of the national attention has been focused on rural hospital closures. Illinois has also seen concentrated urban hospital closures in areas where Black and Hispanic patients live and this has implications for health equity in these urban areas. Further analyses of the differential impact of these closures will be completed in 2023-2024 through an IGA with a health economics faculty member in the UIC Division of Health Policy and Administrator.
Maternal Mortality
Since June 2020, the Illinois MMRC’s have participated as one of two states piloting the use of a “community vital signs dashboard” during case review. These dashboards, which were developed by Emory University in partnership with CDC, provide a summary of county and community-level data on various health indicators such as health care providers per capita, housing stability, violence, segregation, transportation access and more. Incorporating social-contextual determinants of health into Illinois’ aggregate reporting of maternal deaths is important for improving maternal death reviews and helping the MMRCs move beyond identification of only provider and hospital factors and recommendations. These dashboards have increased discussion around social determinants of health and community-level factors contributing to the death. The data included in the dashboards also allow for analysis of the indicators and their contribution to pregnancy-related deaths. During 2022, Title V epidemiology staff analyzed aggregate community-level data and pregnancy-related deaths by county. County-level indicators such as poverty, food insecurity, and transportation were found to be associated with pregnancy-related mortality in Illinois. We are in the process of developing visualizations and incorporating these findings into the next state Maternal Health Report.
Impact of COVID-19 on Maternal and Infant Health
The UIC epidemiology team led an analytic project to examine whether SARS-COV-2 infection during pregnancy exacerbates adverse maternal and infant outcomes among Illinois birthing persons of color. This analysis found Black persons with SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy had an increased risk of maternal morbidity, preterm birth and NICU admission compared to Black persons without SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy did not cause the same magnitude of increased risk of adverse outcomes among white persons. This analysis gives important insight into how maternal and infant health inequities were exacerbated due to SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy for groups already at higher medical or social risk for adverse maternal and infant health outcomes. This analysis was submitted as a scientific abstract for the 2023 CityMatch conference.
Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders among Women of Reproductive Age and Women with a Live Delivery
In FY 2022, a member of the Title V epidemiology staff completed her dissertation research on hospitalizations for mental health and substance use (MH/SU) disorders among women of reproductive age and women who have an MH/SU disorder documented on the delivery record. The analysis demonstrated that hospitalizations for these disorders are common among women of reproductive age; there are 125 hospitalizations per 10,000 population per year. Women living in rural areas, women with Medicaid insurance had higher rates of hospitalizations for mental health and substance use disorders. Among women with a live delivery, 10% had a MH or SU disorder documented on their records. Again, women with public insurance, and women outside of the Chicago metropolitan area were more likely to have disorders documented than women with private insurance and women living within the Chicago metropolitan area. Further, women with MH/SU disorders documented were significantly more likely to have chronic comorbidities originating before pregnancy, significantly more likely to have obstetric comorbidities such as pre-eclampsia develop during pregnancy or delivery, significantly more likely to experience a severe maternal morbidity, and significantly more likely to have a preterm delivery. The results of this analysis have important public health and clinical implications for the treatment of MH/SU disorders in women of reproductive age and pregnant people, and for the clinical and social support people with MH/SU disorders need during the perinatal period.
Infant Safe Sleep Practices and Sudden Unexpected Infant Death
Promoting safe sleep and preventing sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) continues to be a priority for the infant health domain. Infant death due to SUID is the main contributor to the racial disparity in infant mortality in Illinois when all causes of death are considered. Following a sharp increase in 2017-2018, the SUID mortality rate continues to decline.
PRAMS data highlighted how the use of safe sleep practices is not an “all or nothing” approach; in the last 5 years there has been an improvement in some safe sleep practices when assessed independently but not improvements in all practices. Thus, more detailed analyses were needed to understand the context in which families were adopting certain safe sleep practices. The UIC epidemiology team led an analytic project using PRAMS data to examine the prevalence of individual safe infant sleep practices by selected maternal characteristics and to assess variation in patterns of use by selected maternal characteristics. The analysis utilized a non-hierarchical cluster analysis to examine different patterns of safe sleep practices across the population, with a focus in how patterns varied among families of non-Hispanic white and Black infants. As of April 2023, a manuscript is being prepared for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. These findings were used to inform ongoing safe sleep initiatives and provide additional context to Illinois' surveillance of sleep-related infant mortality.
Child and Adolescent Health
Youth suicide
Youth suicide and suicidal behavior remain top priorities for the Illinois Title V program. In January 2022, the Title V program finalized a data report on adolescent suicidal behavior and mortality, led by the program’s CSTE fellow. This report included trends in suicidal behavior among Illinois adolescents, including suicidal ideation and attempt, from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Data from 2017-2019 were analyzed and the report included many risk factors for adolescent suicide, including violence victimization, physical activity, and substance use. In addition to data on risk factors and behaviors, data on adolescent suicide mortality from 2010-2020 were analyzed and included in the report. Deaths were analyzed by youth age, sex, race/ethnicity, and urbanicity. The report demonstrated that suicide death is either steady or increasing in every group studied. Of particular importance, suicide deaths are increasing significantly among female, urban, and youth of color, groups traditionally considered to be lower risk for death from suicide. This report was shared with many stakeholders and partners. The program used the report to author a public-facing 2-page fact sheet that was shared widely.
Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs
In the summer of 2022, UIC-DSCC hired Dr. Ebonie Zielinski as the new Assistant Director of Research and Practice Initiatives. This new position is part of the Systems of Care Team within UIC-DSCC and will focus on population health needs of CYSHCN across Illinois. Dr. Zielinski will also be the lead in overseeing the CYSHCN focused elements of the next five-year needs assessment.
Home Nursing Workforce Assessment
During October 2021, UIC-DSCC completed a survey to better understand current rates of pay for nurses providing care in the home setting to UIC-DSCC Home Care Program participants. This survey was sent to home nursing agencies who are currently enrolled to provide in-home shift-based nursing care in Illinois, and a similar survey was also sent to the families of individuals receiving in-home shift-based nursing care. Additionally, UIC-DSCC worked with other states to benchmark on Medicaid rates of pay for in-home nursing care. The survey responses and benchmarking information were combined with family focus groups UIC-DSCC completed during FFY 2021 and home nursing claims data in a report provided to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family services in October 2022 with recommendations on ways to continue to improve caregiver support for families of children with medical complexity in Illinois.
Social Determinants of Health
During the summer of 2022, the Title V epidemiology staff and DSCC collaborated to supervise two Title V summer interns. The interns completed a mixed methods analysis on the impact of social determinants of health (SDoH) on CYSHCN. Over the course of their internship, the interns reviewed how other states address SDoH in their CYSHCN programs and conducted a literature review to understand the SDoH most impactful in this population. They completed key informant interviews with families and healthcare providers and an analysis of National Survey of Children’s Health data. They concluded that CYSHCN and their families have many needs related to SDoH. In particular, families report that financial resources are a source of stress and limit the care and services they can access. In addition, health insurance is a barrier to receiving adequate care. Families often struggle to find providers who accept their insurance or find that insurance will not cover all the care and services they believe their children need. The results of this analysis are being used to inform ongoing programming provided by DSCC and were shared with partners and healthcare providers.
Emerging Public Health Issues and Future Needs Assessment Activities
Emerging Issues in Maternal and Infant Health
During 2023, we will continue to assess the needs of Illinois’ birthing persons and infants particularly as related to our regionalized perinatal system, obstetric hospital closures, and maternity care deserts. In September 2022, we executed a new intergovernmental agreement project order with a faculty member in the Division of Health Policy and Administration at the UIC School of Public Health for assistance with these analyses. During this two year project, we will develop composite indices to quantify the level of access to maternity care throughout the state, assess how this index is associated with health service outcomes like adequacy of prenatal care, and will examine the impact of obstetric hospital closures on maternity care access and maternal and infant outcomes.
To inform the revisions to the administrative code for the regionalized perinatal hospital system, Illinois Title V plans to implement the Levels of Care Assessment Tool (LOCATe) for the second time in late 2023. LOCATe is a tool developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that surveys hospitals about their personnel, resources, and policies, and assigns expected levels of maternal and neonatal levels of care, based on guidance from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology/Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Illinois previously implemented LOCATe during 2015-2016 and the data from that assessment were critical in leading the state to decide to revise the perinatal hospital code. The updated version of the assessment will be edited to include additional survey questions specific relevant policy and systems issues in Illinois. The findings from this assessment will be shared with the state Perinatal Advisory Committee, levels of care workgroups, and other relevant stakeholders involved in the regionalized perinatal system.
Emerging Issues in Child and Adolescent Health
The Illinois Title V program remains dedicated to improving the mental health of children and adolescents. The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for young people and there have been national published reports of an increase in emergency room and inpatient care for mental health conditions among children and adolescents. During FY 2024, the Title V program will conduct an analysis on children and youth in Illinois who seek care for mental and behavioral health conditions in hospital emergency rooms and inpatient units. The analyses will examine hospital encounters by patient age, race, sex, and region of the state. The role of accessibility of outpatient care will be examined and racial/ethnic and social disparities will be identified. A final report will be distributed to partners working in pediatric mental and behavioral healthcare and shared with stakeholder groups.
Emerging Issues for Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs
UIC-DSCC continues to work to better understand how the social determinants of health affect families of children and youth with special health care needs and to further identify opportunities for care coordination to be impactful addressing social determinant related needs. UIC-DSCC is also working to make available additional education to Illinois residents on the impact of social determinants of health on the care of a child with special health care needs.
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