Sharpen your skills and knowledge with free online courses from Texas Health Steps Online Provider Education. Check out the course finder below to learn about our pharmacy CE offering and other useful courses.
Learn about trends that affect immunization rates and public health in Texas and how primary care providers can promote administration of vaccines according to the ACIP schedule.
There is no vaccine or cure for cytomegalovirus (CMV), the most common cause of congenital hearing loss. This tutorial provides guidelines about how to prevent CMV infection during pregnancy and how to provide support and resources for babies affected by the virus.
Learn recommended procedures that will equip Texas Health Steps providers and others to employ best practices and follow state requirements for TB screening, testing and treatment in children and adolescents.
Learn when and how to obtain prior authorization for medications prescribed for patients covered by Medicaid fee-for-service and managed care.
Integrate practices to identify, treat and reduce the effects of trauma and toxic stress among children and adolescents. Includes ethical guidelines for reporting suspected abuse or neglect and for providing culturally effective health-care services.
Adopt recommended screening schedules and tools to diagnose and manage ADHD among children and adolescents in the primary care setting. Includes guidelines for making referrals and coordinating care with specialists.
Learn how a morning huddle can set the stage for a successful day of appointments with adolescent patients.
Learn the tools to integrate substance use screening and intervention into practice, employ current evidence-based models to manage patients who use substances or are in recovery, and refer patients.
Learn how to routinely screen adolescents for e-cigarette use and counsel them about the health risks and long-term consequences of vaping.
Learn how to advance health equity by adopting and implementing the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Health Care.
Learn how a ‘whole-office’ approach can benefit busy providers and ensure patients receive individualized, age-appropriate health education and anticipatory guidance during checkups.
Learn how to assess risk for developing caries and protect your patient's oral health.
Learn to recognize the signs of an underlying mental health problem in your patients.
Learn to implement nationally recognized dental quality measures such as individualized caries risk assessment and age-appropriate anticipatory guidance to improve oral health for patients 3 through 20 years.
Learn to conduct required ASD screening, make diagnoses and referrals, and collaborate with families to provide continuity of care in a primary care setting.
Learn how to prepare your staff to assist you in screening young patients for autism spectrum disorder as part of a checkup or acute care visit.
Determine how and when to effectively screen for and treat common childhood and adolescent mental, emotional and behavioral disorders in the primary care setting.
Communicate clear and consistent messages about breastfeeding and provide support to help families achieve their breastfeeding goals.
Learn how and why to create and sustain a medical home in your primary care practice.
Learn how case managers support Medicaid services for children and families in Texas. This course provides guidance about how case managers work with various state programs, including traditional fee-for-service Medicaid and managed care organizations.
Integrate case management services to support patients and families dealing with special health-care needs or chronic conditions. Includes information about eligibility for Case Management for Children and Pregnant Women.
* Required course for MCO service coordinators. A certificate will be provided upon course completion.
Every checkup is an opportunity to promote proper use of car seats and safety belts that prevent injury and save lives. This short course provides resources and tools to help you apply best practices recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Identify and manage childhood and adolescent depression, make appropriate referrals, and provide ongoing care and coordination in a primary care setting.
Identify and manage childhood anxiety, make appropriate referrals, and provide ongoing care and coordination in a primary care setting.
Learn why children ages 3 years and younger have a high risk for choking and how to provide parents and caregivers with effective methods to prevent choking injury and death.
Learn to diagnose, treat and prevent concussion in children and adolescents.
Learn about state-mandated newborn screening for critical congenital heart disease, the screening process and appropriate follow-up.
Promote effective communication and improve health outcomes for culturally diverse patients and their families. Includes guidelines for obtaining informed consent and using interpretation services in the medical home.
Integrate validated developmental screenings and ongoing surveillance to meet Texas Health Steps requirements for preventive medical checkups.
Recognize the symptoms of diabetes and distinguish among the various types that affect children and adolescents. Includes best practices for effectively managing diabetes through medication and lifestyle changes.
Take 10 minutes to learn about specific steps physicians can take to “prepare to survive” and “prepare to recover” when a flood, fire, disease outbreak or other disaster strikes. This podcast provides lessons learned from Hurricane Harvey and other recent disasters as well as links to helpful disaster preparedness resources.
Get practice guidelines about how to screen and counsel adolescents to reduce e-cigarette use.
Implement best clinical practices to identify and treat exercise-induced dyspnea, apply an algorithm to clear athletes to return to play, and determine when specialty care is necessary.
By collaborating with patients and their families, pediatric health-care providers can help improve health, development and long-term outcomes for all children, including children with disabilities and chronic health conditions.
Learn how to provide early diagnosis, referral and support for children who have a range of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, including those with subtle effects who might be misdiagnosed or undiagnosed.
Dentists enrolled in Texas Medicaid must complete this training and provide additional certification in order to bill Medicaid for First Dental Home services for children 6 through 35 months.
Learn how to identify, screen and assist children and adolescents who lack adequate nutritious food for an active, healthy life
Learn best practices and ethical guidelines for genetic clinical evaluations, screening and testing, appropriate referrals and ongoing care in a primary care practice.
Identify the legal roles and responsibilities of Texas Local Health Authorities and how they ensure public health emergencies and other health issues are addressed in a proper and timely manner.
Implement best practices to provide age-appropriate hearing and vision screenings in the primary care setting and coordinate with school screenings.
Many Texas families experience housing instability and food insecurity, which can have long-term effects on children’s health and development. Learn how to quickly screen patients for these hidden health risks and intervene when necessary.
Learn about the prevalence, signs, symptoms and interventions for substance use and other risky adolescent behaviors.
Learn how housing instability can harm the health of Texas children and families and how to screen your patients for housing status and help connect them to local resources.
This course provides step-by-step guidance on how to schedule, conduct and document Texas Health Steps medical checkups. The course is recommended for all Texas Health Steps providers and their staff members.
Learn about the extent of child labor and sex trafficking in Texas and get resources to help you recognize and respond to it.
Learn how you can promote timely administration of immunizations as part of Texas Health Steps checkups.
Take a few minutes to learn about current research and get tips for educating patients and their parents about the importance of following the recommended HPV vaccination schedule. This podcast provides updated clinical guidelines and links to further information.
Equip Texas Health Steps providers and other health-care professionals to identify asthma, apply a stepwise treatment approach as part of managing asthma patients in a primary care setting and make appropriate referrals for specialty care.
Effectively communicate vaccine information to patients and families, apply the national immunization and catch-up schedules and identify vaccine contraindications and precautions. Includes current ACIP guidelines.
Learn about this evidence-based practice to identify, reduce or prevent alcohol substance use and misuse. Texas Medicaid supports universal SBIRT for adolescent and adult patients in primary care and other settings. This tutorial provides and overview of SBIRT, guidelines for implementation and access to resources to help you get started.
Integrate best practices to identify and reduce risks for sleep-related infant death and motivate parents and caregivers to provide safe sleeping environments. Includes proven communication strategies and resources.
Maternal and child health are intricately linked. This tutorial explores the impact of postpartum depression and provides guidance about how Texas Health Steps providers can receive separate reimbursement for conducting maternal postpartum depression screening during an infant’s regular checkup.
Implement strategies to identify, intervene in and prevent behaviors such as bullying, self-injury and suicide, dating violence and sexting. Includes guidelines for ethically responding when an adolescent patient perpetrates violence.
Learn why and how to integrate long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) into routine clinical practice.
Learn how pediatricians and other primary care providers can restrict adolescent access to opioids and help prevent young people from misusing these powerful medications.
Get tips on how to help families provide a healthy start for infants and young children.
Get recommendations for promoting routine immunization to protect children from vaccine-preventable illnesses during the global pandemic.
Get tips for overcoming language barriers in your practice.
Adopt best practices that can be used in primary care to assess, treat and prevent overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.
Get practical guidance about how to help young patients and their families learn to manage type 1 diabetes.
Learn about the MAC program requirements, covered services and streamlined contracting and management process.
* Required course for Case Management for Children and Pregnant Women case managers.
Texas Medicaid covers medical telecommunications for a range of medical, behavioral health and therapy services. Check out several case examples and determine whether the patients are candidates for Medicaid-approved services.
Medicaid waivers can be the gateway to services for children with disabilities. This short course provides a targeted overview of waiver programs and recommendations for helping your patients and their families connect to services.
This interactive tutorial outlines a whole-office approach to a medical home that is welcoming and supportive for patients, families and staff members.
Learn about free transportation services available for Texas Health Steps patients.
Untreated anxiety and depression can cause great distress to adolescents and their families. Read on to learn more about how to integrate mental health screening into medical checkups and provide the support your patients need.
Gain communication skills that can be used in the primary care setting to motivate children, adolescents and families to make positive health changes, improve self-care for chronic conditions and avoid high-risk behaviors.
Collaborating with patients can help them establish and maintain healthy habits. Learn how to get started.
Implement best practices that can be used in the primary care setting to manage parent anxiety about out-of-range newborn hearing results and to encourage follow-up care.
A primary care provider’s guide to Texas’s newborn screening program, including how to interpret results, communicate with parents and follow up to ensure necessary treatment occurs in a timely manner.
Take 10 minutes to view a video filled with information and resources about addressing opioid and substance use among pregnant women and new mothers.
Implement practices required for physicians, advanced practice nurses and physician assistants to perform Oral Evaluation and Fluoride Varnish services in Texas. Completion of this course and additional certification are required to bill Medicaid for the service.
Learn to teach pregnant women about the importance of oral health and the safety of dental care during pregnancy.
Promote oral health for infants and children in a primary care practice. Includes screening and treatment guidelines as well as age-appropriate anticipatory guidance
Learn how primary care providers have a critical role in promoting maternal health and reducing maternal morbidity and mortality.
Integrate best practices for providing pharmacy services to patients in Texas Medicaid, the Kidney Health Care Program, Healthy Texas Women Program and the Children with Special Health Care Needs program.
Learn how to identify and address factors that affect maternal health and safety in the first year after childbirth.
Integrate best practices for preconception health care and counseling into preventive medical checkups.
Integrate best practices for prenatal health care and counseling into preventive medical checkups.
Learn how to determine whether a child or adolescent with specialized medical conditions qualifies for ongoing, skilled nursing in a Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care Center (PPECC), how to prescribe PPECC services and how to coordinate care with a PPECC.
Learn how to screen, test and retest for lead levels in children; how to properly collect blood specimens; and how to use the state’s 24/7 electronic system for mandatory reporting of test results.
Learn to identify risk factors for unintentional injury in children and adolescents, provide age-appropriate anticipatory guidance and apply state law and best practices to prevent unintentional injury and death.
Learn how to make appropriate referrals for medically necessary private duty nursing services for children and adolescents who are eligible for Texas Medicaid.
Adopt best practices for adolescent screening, including recommended schedules, effective communication and enhanced clinical procedures. Includes video examples of effective screening techniques.
Learn how health-care providers can promote healthy outcomes for Texas mothers and babies as well as gain insight into leading health risks and opportunities to prevent pregnancy-related complications and death.
Examine the case of a young mother and her new son to learn practical ways to address maternal mortality and morbidity risk factors.
Learn how resilience, the ability to overcome hardship, helps children and adolescents reach their full potential and lead healthy and productive lives.
Every checkup is an opportunity to promote school attendance and help avoid the serious pitfalls associated with absenteeism. Get access to resources that help you identify and address risk factors for absenteeism.
Learn when to give your pregnant patients the pertussis vaccination.
Implement best practices to effectively screen for child abuse, comply with legal reporting requirements and promote protective factors that prevent child abuse.
An overview of the opioid epidemic and how physicians can help to reduce opioid use in Texas.
Learn how to use pediatric health guidelines to inquire about child and adolescent digital media use and to counsel parents about monitoring their children’s media use and setting limits on screen time.
Recognizing red flags, screening and responding to parent concerns are critical to ASD diagnosis and intervention.
Learn when to screen for tuberculosis.
Learn to coordinate care for children and adolescents with sickle cell disease and trait, including collaborating with patients, families and medical specialists.
Implement best practices for collecting and handling specimens in a clinical setting as well as requirements for submitting specimens to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Learn what to look for in your patients to identify an infectious disease.
Learn why and how to consistently promote HPV vaccination of adolescents in your pediatric or primary care practice.
Get tips for addressing suspected alcohol use in your adolescent patients.
Establish practice guidelines that comply with legal requirements for obtaining consent and maintaining confidentiality in providing health-care services to adolescents.
Learn how you can use medical telecommunications to provide medical and therapy services to patients enrolled in Texas Medicaid.
Propose labor and delivery practices that support breastfeeding, recommend a breastfeeding position often used after a C-section, evaluate latch and analyze contraindications to breastfeeding.
Learn how to protect, support and promote breastfeeding in accordance with the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and Texas Ten Steps Program.
Learn how to promote patient-centered communication about breastfeeding, recognize benefits/risks of different feeding methods and support breastfeeding after a mother returns to the workplace.
Find out how to get helpful Texas Health Steps-focused courses and resources at your fingertips. Check out several case examples to see how the courses and resources can help you keep young patients on a path to good health.
This brief interactive tutorial explains step-by-step how to interpret and apply the Periodicity Schedule requirements in order to perform the checkups correctly, satisfy requirements for a complete checkup and ensure your patients receive the full benefit of Texas Health Steps preventive care services.
Children and youth who enter state conservatorship are entitled to a “3 in 30” series of exams plus coordinated ongoing care. This course provides clinical guidelines and updated resources to help you conduct the required exams and provide follow-care for this high-needs patient population.
Learn to perform and be reimbursed for preventive medical checkups and other pediatric and adolescent services through the Texas Health Steps Medicaid program.
This course provides a current and comprehensive overview of Texas Medicaid services available to children and their families, including information about how to access and provide services to eligible patients. The course is recommended for all Texas Health Steps providers and their staff members.
Learn how to make timely, appropriate referrals for pediatric physical, occupational and speech therapy (PT/OT/ST) services and to facilitate effective communication with families and therapy providers.
Learn to develop and implement transition plans for patients with chronic health conditions or disabilities as they approach school age or adulthood.
Children and youth in foster care are entitled to a “3 in 30” series of services and coordinated ongoing care. This module provides guidance about providing trauma-informed practices in the medical home to meet the needs of young people in foster care.
Learn how to respond when your patient displays signs of depression.
Find out how to improve office workflow and efficiency while ensuring that patients receive necessary services.
Learn why Texas has initiated newborn screening for X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) and how to respond when a newborn’s results are out-of-range.
This module provides updated information about addressing youth suicide as well as helpful resources for developing a team workflow and self-care practices that support the entire staff in handling challenging patient situations.
Read on for guidance about ways to prioritize your own well-being to help you and your staff continue offering hope and support to others.
Learn how to help prevent the spread of Zika and protect vulnerable populations.
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