NIMH Funded Web Portal That Helps Providers Implement the New ADHD Guideline
The mehealth portal is now available online at www.mehealth.com to pediatric providers, parents and educators working to improve quality of care for people with ADHD. Funded by a four-year, $2.8 million NIMH grant through the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, mehealth is free to users until 2021. Designed as a web-interface to deliver screening and treatment information, the newest updates to the portal incorporate the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) recently released and updated ADHD clinical practice guidelines, and are designed to help improve evidence-based care delivery in community settings.
In a 2016 trial, tested at 50 community-based pediatrics practices involving 199 physicians and 577 children with ADHD, use of mehealth resulted in improved ADHD medication treatment, and significant behavioral improvement over standard care. The expanded and improved mehealth system has been now allows parents and teachers to develop and implement behavioral treatments as an important piece of integrative care.
During this next year, the mehealth team will be working with an advisory committee improve the portal’s effectiveness, and to work on making the technology available at no cost beyond the 2021 deadline.
Epstein JN, Langberg JM, Lichtenstein PK, Kolb R, Altaye M, Simon JO. Use of an Internet portal to improve community-based pediatric ADHD care: a cluster randomized trial. Pediatrics. 2011;128(5):e1201-e1208.