Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Collaborative
About the ADHD Collaborative
Welcome to the ADHD Collaborative's website. The goal of the ADHD Collaborative is to improve functioning, quality of life, and access to care for children with ADHD. This is accomplished by training community primary care providers to implement the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of this disorder. As a process improvement initiative, the Collaborative emphasizes using best – practice recommendations and quality improvement science to achieve desired long-term outcomes.
History of the ADHD Collaborative
In 2004, Cincinnati Children's was awarded a five-year grant to fund the ADHD Collaborative as part of a more comprehensive plan to improve access for children to behavioral health services and specialists at the medical center. The decision to create an ADHD-focused partnership with community pediatricians and family practitioners was based on the recognition that:
- The AAP had defined ADHD as a primary care diagnosis.
- Evidence-based guidelines had been developed by the AAP and Children's Hospital for diagnosing and managing ADHD.
- Reliable tools, including the Vanderbilt assessment forms, had been developed and standardized for use by primary care practitioners.
- By improving community physician competence in managing ADHD, fewer referrals for basic ADHD assessment would be made, resulting in improved access to CCHMC – based behavioral health services fro children with more complicated mental health and educational problems.
The ADHD Collaborative steering committee (task force), consisting of representatives from the practicing community as well as the divisions of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry and Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, was assembled in the spring of 2004 for the purpose of developing a relevant and efficient training curriculum that could be readily adapted to the demands of busy primary care offices.
The training model was piloted in the fall of 2004 with five pediatricians. As of July 2007, the model has been successfully employed with a total of 221 physicians representing 64 practices from throughout the tri-state area.
Next Steps
The ADHD Collaborative will be spending the final two years of the project (which ends in June 2009) focusing on:
- Incorporating measures within practices which ensure sustained patient improvements
- Assisting participating offices with learning to use a web-based portal which scores and interprets electronically submitted parent and teacher Vanderbilt forms
Please use the links below to access the following information:
