Coordinated Family Support: A Medical Home for Children with Special Health Care Needs (CFS)

UT-Institute for Disability Research, Policy & Practice, UCEDD/LEND
Program Type	UCEDD	Fiscal Year	2012
Contact	Jefferson Sheen, PhD
Email	[email protected]
Phone	435-797-8113
Project Description
Project Context: Every child deserves a medical home. The American Academy of Pediatrics describes the medical home as a model of delivering primary care that is accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally effective care. A medical home is a partnership between a child, the child's family, and the place where the child gets primary health care. At a medical home, the child's family and health care experts are a team. They work together to find and get all the services the child and family need, medical and non-medical services. All states are mandated by Amendments to Title V of the 1935 Social Security Act in the Omnibus Budget and Reconciliation Act of 1989 (OBRA '89) to "provide and to promote family-centered, community-based, culturally-competent, coordinated care for children with special health care needs." This Act enables each state to facilitate the development of community-based systems of services for children with special health care needs and their families. The goals of this strategic plan are to increase the quality and years for a healthy life and to eliminate health disparities. Project Focus: The Coordinated Family Support: A Medical Home for Children with Special Health Care Needs (CFS) is a collaborative effort of Intermountain Healthcare's Budge Clinic Pediatric Unit in Logan, Utah and the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University. The focus of CFS project is to promote health and access to care and provide medical home services for children with special health care needs and their families within the catchment area of the Budge Clinic, which includes parts of nine rural counties in UT, ID, and WY. Services: Each year, 200 families who have children with special health care needs are enrolled in the CFS Medical Home project. These families receive resource information, assistance, and support in accessing programs and services that they have identified as important to their child and family. Each family is contacted at least twice yearly to update their care summary, but can have contact as often as necessary to receive the services they require. FY 2012 Focus: CFS will continue to provide services to families who have children with special health care needs in nine rural counties in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming until June, 2012.