ABSTRACT
Educating parents about the newborn screening (NBS) process is critical in ensuring that families are aware of their child's NBS, which could contribute to better outcomes for the baby and experiences for the family. Successful education efforts result in expecting parents understanding the importance of NBS, feeling comfortable with the NBS process, and being aware of their choices after NBS is complete. Educating parents prenatally is challenging for many NBS programs for a variety of reasons. The COVID-19 pandemic added additional barriers to NBS programs' ability to educate parents prenatally about NBS. By initiating a department-wide partnership among other programs with a similar target audience, Michigan's NBS Program was able to host a virtual baby fair. Since the inaugural event, Michigan's NBS Program has hosted seven virtual fairs with 15 participating programs. A total of 692 participants registered for the baby fair and received a resource packet, over 157 participants joined one of the live presentations, and 211 have viewed the YouTube videos of recorded fairs. Virtual baby fairs are a cost-effective and convenient approach to education that could be implemented in any NBS program to educate parents prenatally about NBS.
ABSTRACT
Although early evidence reported a substantial decline in pediatric hospital visits during COVID-19, it is unclear whether the decline varied across different counties, particularly in designated Medically Underserved Areas (MUA). The objective of this study is to explore the state-wide impact of COVID-19 on pediatric hospital visit patterns, including the economic burden and MUA communities. We conducted a retrospective observational study of pediatric hospital visits using the Florida State all-payer Emergency Department (ED) and Inpatient dataset during the pandemic (April-September 2020) and the same period in 2019. Pediatric Treat-and-Release ED and inpatient visit rates were compared by patient demographics, socioeconomic, diagnosis, MUA status, and hospital characteristics. Pediatric hospital visits in Florida decreased by 53.7% (62.3% in April-June, 44.2% in July-September) during the pandemic. The Treat-and-Release ED and inpatient visits varied up to 5- and 3-fold, respectively, across counties. However, changes in hospital visits across MUA counties were similar compared with non-MUA counties except for lower Treat-and-Release ED volume in April-May. The disproportional decrease in visits was notable for the underserved population, including Hispanic and African American children; Medicaid coverages; non-children's hospitals; and diagnosed with respiratory diseases, appendicitis, and sickle-cell. Florida Hospitals experienced a USD 1.37 billion (average USD 8.3 million) decline in charges across the study period in 2020. Disproportionate decrease in hospital visits, particularly in the underserved population, suggest a combined effect of the persistent challenge of care access and changes in healthcare-seeking behavior during the pandemic. These findings suggest that providers and policymakers should emphasize alternative interventions/programs ensuring adequate care during the pandemic, particularly for high-risk children.