Project Description:
Approximately 15% of children in Washington State have special health care needs ? ???ongoing chronic health or developmental conditions ? that require services above and beyond those typically required by other children the same age. One in five households has a child with special needs.Leading national and state child health organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the US Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Family Voices and others have made acce?ss to a medical home a priority for all children, especially those with special health care needs. A medical home is defined not as a building, but as a team approach to providing primary health care services in a high-quality and cost-effective manner. In a medical home the child or youth, his or her family, primary care physician, and other health professionals develop a trusting partnership based on mutual responsibility and respect for each other's expertise. Partners share complete information with each other. Together, families, health care professionals and community service providers identify and access all medical and non-medical services needed to help the child and family.Too many children with special health care needs do not receive coordinated, family-centered care through a medical home. A national 2001 survey found that only 53.6% of Washington state children with special health care needs had a medical home. Four broad challenges to medical homes are family-professional communication and partnership, access to care, care coordination and financing.Working closely with the Washington State Department of Health, Children with Special Health Care Needs Program, and other key partners, the Washington State Medical Home Leadership Network (MHLN) promotes and supports medical homes across the state since 1995. This is achieved through community-based MHLN teams and the Washington State Medical Home website, www.medicalhome.org. MHLN project staff also provides technical assistance to state policy initiatives related to medical home. Staff are based at the CHDD.There are 21 community-based MHLN teams across Washington. Each volunteer team is typically composed of a pediatrician or family physician, parent, public health nurse, and birth-to-three family resources coordinator. Some teams have added partners from schools, child care, mental health and other settings. The expert teams receive additional training through the MHLN and agree to serve as resources on medical homes for their colleagues in their counties. They also choose one or more areas of need in which to develop and carry out a plan to improve family-centered, coordinated care for children and youth in their communities. The Washington State Medical Home website (www.medicalhome.org) serves as a coordinating center for medical home activities in the state and links physicians, other professionals and families with practical information, tools, and resources that support family-centered, coordinated health care services. The website includes diagnosis-specific care guidelines and patient handouts and extensive links to state and local services and resources. In addition, there are sections specific to the medical home needs of physicians and other primary health care providers, families, and the community service providers (such as public health nurses, nutritionists) who assist them.
Target Audience:
Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers, Children/Adolescents with Disabilities/SHCN
