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This page was last modified on : 02/08/2010 |
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For FamiliesIntroduction The purpose of the Medical Home Family Pages is to help families, especially those who have a child or youth with special health care needs, meet their child's needs through a mutually respectful and satisfying partnership with their child's primary care doctor*. ( * by doctor we mean a pediatrician, family physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant.) This partnership, or medical home approach, helps make sure that your child's primary care, community service and specialty needs are met in a coordinated and complete manner. Families whose children receive comprehensive, coordinated care through a known and trusted doctor report greater satisfaction with the care, fewer emergency room visits, fewer parental days of lost work and other benefits. The Family Medical Home pages are designed to give you the information and tools you need to develop a medical home for your own child.
What Will You Find in the Family Medical Home Pages? What is a Medical Home- how to find and build a medical home for your child First person stories about medical homes and related topics Practical tips on partnering with your child's doctors and other service providers, what to expect when you visit the doctor, how to prepare to get the most out of doctor visits The balancing act for a family with special health care needs, support services for all members of the family How to find services for your child and family, including in your community Finding and using trustworthy sources of information to learn more about your child's health or developmental issues and how to meet them Coordinating Your Child's Care Tools and tips for keeping your child's different services and treatment plans coordinated and working together How to help your child's doctor and school work together with you to benefit your child's education and growth Papers, papers everywhere! How to keep your child's lab results, treatment plans, reports etc organized and useful to you Understanding health insurance and other ways to get the bills paid How to prepare for transitions (such as between early intervention programs and school, adolescence to adulthood) Information about how to make a difference for children with special needs as a parent leader for your own child, your child's medical practice, community or the state.
A medical home is not a building, house, or hospital, but rather an approach to providing comprehensive primary health care. A medical home is defined as primary care that is accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family- centered, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally effective. Who are Children with Special Health Care Needs? Children who have, or are at risk for, chronic physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional conditions and who also require health and related services of a type or amount beyond that required by children generally. This definition was developed by the US Maternal and Child Health Bureau in collaboration with parents, doctors and others. It helps identify children based on their need rather than their diagnosis. Approximately 14 percent of children have an identified need. Including the at-risk group this number jumps to approximately 30%. Examples of children with special needs include those with asthma, learning disabilities, cancer, food allergies, and autism. In addition to the Family Pages, the following pages may be of interest to families: Links to detailed care guidelines for your doctor and family-friendly handouts and websites for asthma, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and low birthweight/prematurity. Even if your child does not have the particular conditions covered here, there are some good family-friendly websites to explore such as medlineplus.gov and the kidshealth.org To find a health care or other service provider, use Quick Key Contacts to make one call, Resources by County for county-specific lists of services available to support families, or Service Provider Directories to search for a doctor or other service provider. If you want to explore a topic in more depth try Resource Web Links for recommended websites, E -Newsletters/Listservs to keep up to date on medical homes for children, or Training Calendars to link to Washington state continuing education calendars for families and professionals. Information for and about county resource teams promoting medical homes at the community level. Resources include the Child Health Notes library, brief updates sent to health care providers, child care centers and others with updates on screening and development, specific diagnoses, the family care notebook and other family tools, and other topics for Washington communities. Physician Pages and Other Service Providers Read what doctors and other service providers (for example occupational therapists and nutritionists) are being encouraged to do to support medical homes and services for children with special health care needs and their families. Health and Developmental Monitoring Health and developmental monitoring are important parts of well-child care for all children. Much of the information in this section is written for health care providers. However, families may also find a wealth of useful information in here. Look for information on the following topics: Health Monitoring, Developmental Monitoring , Vision, Hearing, and Growth. Learn more about the Medical Home website, our funders and partners, plans to promote and support medical homes for children in Washington, similar efforts in other states, and how to contact project staff. |
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