In November 2013, the AAP partnered with the University of New Mexico (UNM) Project ECHO® to address the health and social needs of children and youth with epilepsy in rural and underserved areas of New Mexico. Since then, the AAP has expanded its partnership with Project ECHO to become a leader in developing, training, supporting, and leading ECHO programs. 

Project ECHO is an innovative hub and spoke program, designed to create knowledge networks by leveraging technology to connect specialty care providers at academic medical centers (hubs) with primary care providers (spokes).  Using didactic and case‐based presentations, these formalized partnerships increase capacity for primary care providers to identify, treat, and manage the care of their patients within the medical home by developing knowledge and self‐efficacy on diseases/conditions in which they don’t usually assume responsibility for the care and treatment.

The AAP serves as an ECHO Superhub, training and supporting partner organizations (hubs) while maintaining fidelity to the ECHO model. The mission of the AAP ECHO Superhub is to utilize the ECHO model to achieve optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being of all children by sharing best practices and building capacity among all pediatric providers. In this capacity, we:

• Conduct ECHO immersion trainings for individuals and organizations interested in implementing pediatric-focused ECHOs

• Build a community of learners by fostering interprofessional collaboration and sharing best practices in pediatric care

• Serve as a resource center, whereby AAP staff

• Provide technical assistance
• Leverage AAP resources
• Assist with curriculum development for various chronic health conditions
• ​Create and expand partnerships​​

To learn about the various AAP ECHO topics, click here.