Children Now is seeking support for the Health Leaders' Conference on Adolescence to be held in September 2000. The purpose of the Conference is to engage health plans in a practical, hands-on discussion about why and how to implement a quality initiative devoted to teen health. The Conference, which will be moderated by a prominent health care leader, will begin with an analysis of the incentives for health plans to focus on adolescents: the Foundation for Accountability's newly developed Adolescent Health Survey that is being used by states and plans to assess adolescents' experience of care and the adolescent-related HEDIS indicators (including teen well visits, immunizations and Chlamydia screening.) The discussion will then turn to practical strategies (such as those found in Children Now's report, Partners in Transition: Adolescents and Managed Care) that health plans can use to improve their scores on the FACCT survey and HEDIS measures. Finally, the group will consider what is not yet understood about how to improve adolescent health and how managed care plans can contribute to advancing the state of this field. Prior to the Conference, Children Now will broadly disseminate Partners in Transition to managed care plans through our contacts at the American Association of Health Plans, the National Institute for Health Care Management, the connections made during the research phase of the report and our contacts from our concurrent project on managed care and early childhood development. The report, as well as the incentives described above, will help attract participants to the event. We anticipate that 20 health plans will register for the Conference; we will also invite a select group of public health agencies, foundations and teen health advocates to participate. Children Now will produce a transcript of the Conference as well as a detailed plan of action for promoting health plan implementation of the report strategies.
