Pediatric Sickle Cell Improvement Program
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Welcome to the Pediatric Sickle Cell Improvement Program (P-SCIP)!
P-SCIP is a quality improvement program funded by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and facilitated by a Michigan Medicine research team that guarantees all Medicaid health plans across Michigan are financially incentivized to improve performance in three preventive-care measures for children with sickle cell anemia (SCA): annual transcranial Doppler screening (TCD) to prevent strokes, daily dispensed antibiotics to prevent life-threatening infections, and daily dispensed hydroxyurea to prevent end organ damage and reduce pain crises that can lead to hospitalizations.
SCA is a genetic condition that predominantly affects minority populations in the United States. Preventive care for children with SCA can significantly reduce the incidence of major complications such as stroke, sepsis, and pain. Despite long-standing, evidence-based recommendations for preventive care and previous improvement efforts, there remain large and persistent gaps in care delivery for children with SCA.
How We Collaborate
Our team works closely with representatives from the Medicaid health plans in several different ways:
We have relationships with multiple disciplines throughout the health plans, including case managers and community health workers, pharmacists and pharmacy directors, as well as various levels of leadership.
There are three workgroups (enhanced pharmacy services, strategic partnerships with hematology clinics, and collaborative case management) that offer collaborative opportunities to discuss issues related to SCA preventive services across health plans. These workgroups allow representatives from various disciplines to share successes and challenges while working toward a common goal of improving care for children with SCA. Our team also holds quarterly calls with each individual health plan to discuss improvement strategy and monitor data and interventions over time.
In 2024 and 2025, our team incorporated improvement sprints into the collaborative strategy. These sprints offer an opportunity for case managers to assist members with maintenance of their medication process. The sprints focus specifically on members who have received medications before and may benefit from assistance with obtaining refills over time or with other individualized needs that may exist. The case managers are encouraged to perform individual outreach to these members to learn about their unique needs.
We hold in-person learning sessions to facilitate collaboration between health plans. The learning sessions are an opportunity for health plans to socialize with sickle cell warriors and families, as well as state representatives and other health plans. These sessions typically consist of sharing clinical information and longitudinal data for the measures, plus a collaborative activity.
The P-SCIP team also maintains a close working relationship with MDHHS representatives, sickle cell clinic staff and hematologists, and sickle cell warriors and families. We seek to offer a holistic perspective to improve preventive services for children with SCA.
Measure Specifications
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