We have been working for more than a decade to make children's health and healthcare better through quality improvement. We believe for all children to achieve their optimal health, they need a healthy start, effective healthcare, and healthy living practices.  For NICHQ, this translates into a focus on four areas:

Infant Health

• NICHQ is thrilled to annnounce our new website for anyone interested in improving breastfeeding support. The site offers news, strategies and tools to help birthing facilities improve maternity care to better support mothers who choose to breastfeed. 

• Hospitals pursuing Baby-Friendly status are moving away from traditional nurseries and keeping mothers and babies together 24 hours a day, a practice known as “rooming-in.”

• Watch our new video sharing the experiences of four hospitals as they begin their journey to Baby-Friendly status in the Best Fed Beginnings project.

Care for Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs

• NICHQ recognized National Autism Awareness Month in April with videos, stories and more.

• Charlie Homer, MD, Daniel Coury, MD, and James Perrin, MD, discuss the need for better integration between medical and behavioral care for children with autism.
  

• The Toronto team in NICHQ’s Collaborative to Improve Care for Children with Autism is educating families on the best ways to reduce insomnia. 

• The Colorado team in the Working to Improve Sickle Cell Healthcare (WISCH) project has developed a patient navigator program to help patients with sickle cell disease find primary care physicians and overcome social obstacles that interfere with healthcare. 

Patient-Centered Care 

• Our new online toolkit offers step-by-step guidance for pediatric practices on how to start, maintain or advance a Patient and Family Advisory Council.

• After Tonya Bowman gave birth prematurely, her daughter was diagnosed with hearing loss. Thus began Bowman’s journey to becoming a professional parent advocate.

• 13 pediatric practices are transforming their offices into patient-centered medical homes in the CHIPRA Massachusetts Medical Home Initiative.  

Healthy Weight 

• Robert Schwartz, MD, faculty advisor in the Mass in Motion Kids project, discusses how providers can use motivational interviewing to engage patients in healthy behavior.

• A community-based health center in Waterbury, Conn. is partnering with a local arts organization to offer kids just what the doctor ordered: dance.

• Visit our new Healthy Weight Collaborative Action Kit, which makes it easy to get started on promoting healthy weight and making change in your community. 

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