Affirm and Department of Health Services continues facilitation partnership
Staff Reports | Digital Free Press
A second five-year program is underway for health centers across the state to implement best practices designed to provide high quality, youth-centered care with the goal of improving the healthcare experience for youth and young adults.
Based on overwhelmingly positive results during the first five years of funding, Arizona Department of Health Services again awarded Affirm with funds to replicate the ‘Adolescent Champion Model,’ an evidence-based intervention developed by the Adolescent Health Initiative at Michigan Medicine.
Affirm, formerly Arizona Family Health Partnership, is a 48-year-old non-profit organization working to make sexual and reproductive healthcare accessible to all through the coordination of multiple grants, including the $6.1 million Title X grant for the state of Arizona, according to a press release.
Affirm prioritizes serving people that have been systematically excluded from receiving care, like Arizona’s youth, the release states.
During the ACM program’s first five years in Arizona, nearly 30 clinics participated, 16 have earned certification as an adolescent-centered environment, and eight more began their training in May 2022.
Affirm’s third cohort included 10 health centers across the state, the most to participate in a single cohort across the nation. Nationally, cohorts are underway in Georgia, Indiana and Texas, although Arizona has “the most cohorts ever done in one state,” including Michigan and Wisconsin, said Adolescent Health Initiative Assistant Director Kaleigh Cornelison, MSW.
The ACM has been or is being implemented in seven of Arizona’s 15 counties including Maricopa, Coconino, Cochise, Pima, Santa Cruz, Navajo and Mohave. Champion health centers participating in the ACM with Affirm reported improvements in:
- Provider knowledge of confidential care for minors.
- Physical spaces being more welcoming for adolescents.
- Gathering feedback from adolescent patients for clinic improvements.
“We’re proud of the commitment and impact our partners have had on adolescent health equity,” said Tracy Pedrotti, MPA, Affirm’s Adolescent Health Program Manager. “The renewed funding will allow us to continue expanding high quality, youth-centered healthcare across the state and removing barriers so health centers and providers are better equipped to serve adolescents.”
At the recently ACM-certified health center, North Country HealthCare Winslow, pediatrician Dr. Cherish Lorica said the program’s implementation has had a “significant impact on young people’s comfort sharing concerns with me. We have established private time without their parent in the room, so they can open up about their health needs. Parents have been very receptive to the concept.”
