Participants

Mike Barry (Staff), Jennifer Bretsch (Staff), Anand Chabra, Sherry Crump, Deborah Cohen, Gil Paradis, Nancy Sheehan, Eileen Yamada, Tom Zink.

I. Welcome and Introductions

Mike Barry and Jennifer Bretsch welcomed everyone on the call and led introductions. Drs. Crump and Zink are new members to the committee since the last conference call.

II. National Teleconference

ACPM will convene its first national adolescent health educational program via teleconference this winter in cooperation with WebMD/Medscape. The Adolescent Health Committee has selected emergency contraception as the focus topic. The learning objectives are as follows:

1.  Identify the indications, mechanisms of use, and efficacy of emergency contraception.

2.  Understand the advantages and disadvantages, as related to adolescent health, for pharmacist-prescribed emergency contraception and over-the-counter emergency contraception as compared with health care provider-prescribed emergency contraception.

3.  Understand the health and social benefits of adolescent emergency contraception, as well as potential limitations relating to access and confidentiality.

There will be no cost to participate in the one-hour teleconference and continuing medical education credits (CME) will be offered. To date ACPM has secured Dr. Don Downing, a pharmacist, to participate. Staff are in the process of securing the second speaker and moderator for the session, selecting a date, and planning marketing strategies.

Committee members noted that the American College Health Association should be included among the organizations that ACPM markets the teleconference to.

III. Preventive Medicine Coalition for Adolescent Health

Mike Barry updated the committee on the College’s Preventive Medicine Coalition on Adolescent Health (PMCAH). The Coalition is a broad mix of public health, medical, clinical, and consumer organizations focused on social, behavioral, and environmental influences on adolescent health. The charge to the Coalition is to serve as a forum for networking and information sharing about adolescent health.  ACPM hosted the Coalition’s first in-person meeting on June 23, 2003 in Washington, DC.  ACPM’s Adolescent Health Committee Chair David Katz also chairs the PMCAH. During the meeting, the Coalition identified a number of key functions, including networking and information sharing, amplifying adolescent health issues within the member organizations, analysis and dissemination of best practices, joint policy development and advocacy, and providing access to the collective expertise and person-power of the coalition members’ constituencies. The Coalition would stay focused on four adolescent health areas; outcomes from sexual activity; preventing obesity; preventing substance abuse; and violence prevention.

Mike noted that the greatest challenge for the Coalition is to differentiate itself from the handful of other adolescent health focused, and sometimes issue specific, coalitions that exist. Suggestions from committee members included, keeping the ACPM niche on prevention and engaging in specific activities that are manageable; considering a merger with the AMA adolescent health coalition (or other similar entities); and focusing the Coalition’s activities on only one issue per year. Staff had considered the last option prior to the Coalition’s first meeting and decided not to because of the timeliness of policy activities.

IV. Policy Papers: Update

The Adolescent Health Committee is responsible for producing at least one policy statement each year aimed at preventive medicine and public health professionals that discusses interventions (clinical, community-based, or legislative and regulatory interventions) to help achieve one or more of the Healthy People 2010 critical objectives for adolescents. In recent months the committee guided the development of, “The Scope of Reproductive Health Care Benefits for Adolescents under the State Children's Health Insurance Program: An ACPM Position Statement.” The statement recommends that SCHIP programs ensure adolescents’ access to comprehensive reproductive health services. The statement was recently approved by this committee and has been sent to ACPM’s Board of Regents for their review, comment, and vote. Staff will circulate the final paper, post it to ACPM’s website, distribute it to a targeted list of national organizations, and issue a press release.

During the next several months ACPM will develop position statements on counseling children and adolescents on obesity, physical activity counseling, and obesity and diabetes prevention.

V. Preventive Medicine 2004 Session

Planning is underway for the adolescent health annual meeting session. The plenary session is being planned for an audience of 500 and is currently titled, “Childhood and Adolescent Obesity: Epidemiology, Policy, and Prevention.” Experts will discuss the latest obesity trends and statistics, the threat of type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular disease, and obesity prevention and interventions with novel approaches involving youth. The speakers will be Dr. David Katz, Dr. Sonia Caprio of Yale School of Medicine, and Dr. Cara Ebbeling of Children’s Hospital Boston.