Rural Insitute for Inclusive Communities Awarded Prize to Develop Healthcare Communication Tool (MT UCEDD)

February 19, 2019

Dr. Martin Blair, Executive Director of the Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities, and team of pediatricians and community partners received one of the seven prizes for Phase 1 of the U. S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau's Care Coordination for Children with Special Health Care Needs Challenge.

The award enables the Montana Team to pursue development of an electronic Pediatric Medical Passport, or MP2, a web-based tool to improve communication between healthcare providers and families of children with special health care needs. The group applied for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant to address the difficulty in bringing provider, family and technology perspectives together. They will spend the next several months developing their product to compete for further funding. Dr. Sarah Holexa, a pediatric hospitalist in Missoula said, "We are hopeful that this opportunity will give families a strong, shared voice in the care of their children with complex healthcare needs in Montana."