SCREEN AND INTERVENE: A Toolkit for Pediatricians to Address Food Insecurity JANUARY 2021 | WWW.AAP.ORG | WWW.FRAC.ORG Screen and Intervene: A Toolkit for Pediatricians to Address Food Insecurity JANUARY 2021 This toolkit was authored by Alexandra Ashbrook, JD, LLM Director, Special Projects & Initiatives, Food Research & Action Center Kofi Essel, MD, MPH, FAAP Community Pediatrician, Children’s National Hospital; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, About the American Academy of Pediatrics Director, Community & Urban Health Scholarly The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is an organization of 67,000 Concentration, The George Washington University pediatricians committed to the optimal physical, mental, and social health School of Medicine and Health Sciences and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. For more information about AAP, go to www.aap.org. Kimberly Montez, MD, MPH, FAAP Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Assistant Program Director, Pediatrics Residency, Associate Director of Integrating Special Populations, Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity at Wake Forest School of Medicine; About the Food Research & Action Center Vice Chair, Council on Community Pediatrics, American Academy of Pediatrics The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) improves the nutrition, health, and well-being of people struggling against poverty-related hunger in the Dana Bennett-Tejes, MA, MNM United States through advocacy, partnerships, and by advancing bold and Manager, Council on Community Pediatrics, equitable policy solutions. For more information about FRAC, or to sign up American Academy of Pediatrics for FRAC’s e-newsletters, go to www.frac.org. JANUARY 2021 AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS AND THE FOOD RESEARCH & ACTION CENTER Acknowledgments FRAC and AAP gratefully acknowledge the Anthem Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Anthem, Inc., for support of their work to help medical providers screen and intervene to address food insecurity. The authors wish to thank the following: THE AAP CONTRIBUTORS For their guidance and suggestions for creating this second edition of ` Mala Mathur, MD, MPH, FAAP; the toolkit, the authors are grateful to the following: ` Gerri Mattson, MD, MSPH, FAAP; ` Emilia De Marchis, MD, MAS ` Caroline Fichtenberg, PhD ` Madeline Curtis, JD; Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Managing Director of the Social Interventions Research Community Medicine, University of California and Evaluation Network (SIREN); Research Scientist, ` Laura Conklin, MPH; San Francisco Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco ` Alison Baker, MS; and ` Sarah C. DeSilvey, DNP, FNP-C (she/hers) Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Clinical ` Laura Gottlieb, MD, MPH ` Debra Waldron, MD, MPH, FAAP Informatics Director, The Gravity Project; Director, Social Interventions Research and who thoughtfully reviewed the toolkit and Pediatric Faculty, Larner College of Medicine at the Evaluation Network (SIREN); Professor, Department of University of Vermont Family and Community Medicine, University of California offered valuable feedback on the content. San Francisco ` Marian F. Earls, MD, MTS, FAAP Chair, AAP Addressing Social Health and ` Ana C. Monterrey, MD, MPH, FAAP Early Childhood Wellness (ASHEW); Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Chair, AAP Mental Health Leadership Work Group Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas ` Joel Davidson, MD, FAAP ` Richard Sheward, MPP Co-Chair Social Determinants of Health Committee, Director of Innovative Partnerships, Akron Children’s Hospital Children’s HealthWatch ` Valerie Smith, MD, FAAP, MPH Pediatrician, Community-Centered Health Homes (CCHH) Director, St. Paul Children’s Medical Clinic, Tyler, Texas JANUARY 2021 AMERICANAMERICAN ACADEMY ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS OF PEDIATRICS AND THEAND FOOD THE FOOD RESEARCH RESEARCH & ACTION & ACTION CENTER CENTER 03 SCREEN AND INTERVENE: A TOOLKIT FOR PEDIATRICIANS TO ADDRESS FOOD INSECURITY Table of Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................................................................2 Contents What Pediatricians Need to Know About Food Insecurity .................................................................................................................4 Rates and Risk Factors .................................................................................................................................................................................4 Consequences to Children, Adolescents, and Families .....................................................................................................................6 Prepare ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................9 Preparing to Address Food Insecurity Among Patients and Families ............................................................................................9 STEP 1: Educate and train staff on food insecurity, federal nutrition programs, and local food and income resources ......................................................................................................................................................................9 STEP 2: Follow AAP’s recommendation of universal screening ................................................................................................. 10 STEP 3: Incorporate efforts to address food insecurity into the institutional culture and workflow ................................. 10 STEP 4: Practice having empathetic, sensitive, and culturally effective conversations when addressing food insecurity ......................................................................................................................................................11 Preparing to Address Food Insecurity in a Sensitive and Culturally Effective Manner ...........................................................12 Screen ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................14 Use the Validated and AAP-Recommended Hunger Vital Sign™ to Screen for Food Insecurity ...........................................14 Use of Alternative Food Insecurity Screeners ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Document, Track, and Code Food Insecurity Screenings, Assessments, and Interventions in the Patient’s Medical Record .............................................................................................................................................................................. 16 What Pediatricians Need to Know About the Federal Nutrition Programs .................................................................................18 Intervene............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 22 Interventions to Address Food Insecurity ............................................................................................................................................ 22 Administer Appropriate Medical Interventions for the Patient per Your Protocols ................................................................. 22 Connect Patients and Their Families to the Federal Nutrition Programs and Other Food and Community Resources ................................................................................................................................................................................23 STEP 1: Educate the medical team on available federal nutrition programs and emergency food resources .............23 STEP 2: Decide who in your practice can help connect patients and their families to nutrition programs and food assistance, and when you need to enlist the help of a partner ................................................................27 STEP 3: Post or distribute the most up-to-date information at your practice on federal nutrition programs to encourage program participation .................................................................................................................................. 29 Advocate and Educate to Address Food Insecurity and its Root Causes .................................................................................. 30 STEP 1: Review resources and opportunities to engage in advocacy ......................................................................................31 STEP 2: Decide what advocacy opportunity to engage in ............................................................................................................31 STEP 3: Learn from examples of other AAP members ..................................................................................................................32 STEP 4: Sign up for AAP advocacy emails .......................................................................................................................................33 Screening and Intervening Models in Practice .....................................................................................................................................34