Accomplishments
Medical Home Campaign
Overview
The Partnership
History of the term "Medical Home"
Information for Children with Special Health Care Needs
Overview
The Medical Home Campaign was created to explain to parents and caregivers
what a "Medical Home" is and how to use it. The campaign
grew out of three goals:
- To increase proper use of a primary care provider for
preventive and primary care services.
- To reduce inappropriate use of the emergency room for
non-emergency, primary care services.
- To assure that all families, and especially families
who have children with special health care needs, establish
a medical home to assure a source of continuous, comprehensive
and coordinated care.
In its simplest terms, a "Medical Home" is a primary care
provider's office where parents take their children for all
their children's health care needs. A "Medical Home" can
be a doctor's office, community clinic, or local health department.
It's where the staff knows the child and the child's health
history. And it's where parents can turn for advice or help
in caring for their child during office hours or after-hours.
Campaign materials were created and distributed. Many of the materials are now out of stock. The available items can be ordered in bulk from our catalog. The remaining discontinued items can be viewed and downloaded in PDF format from our archived publications section.
The Partnership
The Medical Home Campaign was a joint effort between the:
- N.C. Healthy Start Foundation
- N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, Division
of Public Health, Women's and Children's Health Section
- N.C. Foundation for Advanced Health Programs and their
Community Care of North Carolina Initiative
- Epley Associates
History of the Term "Medical Home"
The term "Medical Home" was first used by the
Children with Special Health Care Needs community. It describes
health care that is accessible, family-centered, continuous,
coordinated, compassionate, and culturally competent. The
special needs community not only pioneered this phrase, but
also the idea that this is the standard of care that physicians
should provide and parents should expect.
We are indebted to the special needs community for their
vision and their articulation. This campaign endeavors to
make the "Medical Home" the standard of care for
all of North Carolina's children.
Information for Children with Special Health Care Needs
 The
Family Support Network of North Carolina
(1-800-852-0042) -- The Family Support Network of North Carolina
provides support and information to families of children
with, or at risk for, special needs and to the service providers
who work with them across the state.
This organization administers 18 local Family Support Programs
(covering 56 counties) that provide information about local
resources and services to families and service providers.
Programs match families with emotional support, information,
and resources.
Family Support Network of N.C. also coordinates a project
for families with foster children: a toll-free Central Directory
of Resources (800-852-0042) and the North Carolina Early
Intervention Mentor Program.
The
Medical Home Initiative for Children with Special Health
Care Needs (CSHCN) in North Carolina integrates with
the state's existing Title V and primary care infrastructure
and uses processes and approaches demonstrated to be effective
in building systems of care for children and their families.
American
Academy of Pediatrics' Medical Home Initiative for Children
with Special Health Care Needs -- The National Center
of Medical Home Initiatives for Children with Special Needs
provides support to physicians, families, and other medical
and non-medical providers who care for children with special
needs so that they have access to a medical home. Available
in Spanish too.
Recommended Publications
North
Carolina Partnership for Children (Smart Start) publication "Effective
Practices: The Medical Home -- Every Child Deserves One!"
This publication provides a better understanding of what
a medical home is and its importance to the overall health
of children. Community strategies are included to help promote
a medical home for every child. Written by Tom Vitaglione
and edited by Vickie Newell (2002).
Seton
Healthcare Network's
"Out of the Emergency Room: Communicating Healthcare Options to Low-Income
Texans"
This study seeks to penetrate what lies beneath the endless
stream of children whose parents think their best health
care option for a primary care treatable illness is the emergency
department of a hospital. It poses a central question: What
drives the parent's health care decisions? And finally, it
investigates what parents think will help them use their
health care benefits in the way the benefits were designed:
to have a primary care provider and a medical home (2002).
Organizations
National
Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality (NICHQ) is
an education and research organization dedicated solely
to improving the quality of health care provided to children
by raising awareness of the need for better children's
health care, helping clinicians and practices improve care
and undertaking research to identify best practices.
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Last updated: April 2012 |
