More than 13,000 Michigan children up to 17 years old have active epilepsy and approximately 25 percent of Michigan’s youth population resides in rural areas. Grant funding for $1.66 million for children in Michigan with epilepsy, will have expanded services provided by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs (MDHHS).
The four year grant for $416,000 received annually from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal Child and Health Systems Branch https://mchb.hrsa.gov will be used to fund the Michigan Pediatric Epilepsy Project.
The grant funding will be used to improve health outcomes for children and youth with epilepsy especially those children living in Michigan’s rural and medically underserved areas and will enable (MDHHS) to expand efforts to improve access to specialized pediatric epilepsy services.
According to MHDDS Director, “We are now partnering with four major epilepsy centers in Michigan that includes Beaumont Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, and Mercy Health Hauenstein Neurosciences.”
During the next four years, strategies to improve health outcomes among the children and youth in the state with epilepsy will include the implementation of healthcare transition practices. The transition practices include transitioning from a pediatric to adult provider, adopting practices to improve collaboration and communication between primary and specialty care providers, expanding telemedicine, and integrating shared decision-making practices between patients and providers.
Go to https://www.michigan.gov/pediatricepilepsy for more information about the “Michigan Pediatric Epilepsy Project.”