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CSHCN Medical Home Partnerships for Children and
Their Families
Core Function: Information Development and Dissemination, Technical Assistance and Outreach Training
The focus of this Washington Department of Health Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) funded project is to promote quality health and developmental care for all children in Washington state, especially those with special health care needs or children at risk for developmental or health concerns. Quality of care is promoted through active partnerships with primary health care providers, families and community service providers.
Current project activities include the following:
1. Promotion of medical homes for children with special health care needs by maintaining the state Medical Home Leadership Network of volunteer community-based, health care professional-parent teams. 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.
2. Technical assistance and training to facilitate community partnerships with primary care providers including the distribution of Child Health Notes, a one-page newsletter offering current information on the identification and management of special needs conditions.
3. Technical assistance to the seven primary care practice teams and project staff in the Medical Home track of the 2008-09 Washington State Collaborative to Improve Health.
4. Provider outreach and other technical assistance to Department of Health grants focusing on improving care for children with autism and care for children with epilepsy, especially in rural and Spanish-speaking communities.
5. Ongoing development and oversight of the Washington State Medical Home website (www.medicalhome.org) with resources and information for families, health care providers and community service providers who care for children, especially those with special needs. 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.
6. Training pediatric residents on the medical home concept and community resources available for CSHCN during their developmental-behavioral pediatrics rotation at CHDD. |
