Medical Home Information for Physicians
Medical Home Information for Families
Creating a Medical Home
Parent Partnership
Practice Assessment
Consumer Awareness
Practice Improvements
Acute Illness Management
Preventive Care Management
Chronic Condition Management
Diagnosis Modules
Transition Information
Community Resources
Medical Home Reimbursement
Quality Improvement
Parent Partnership:
The cornerstone of the medical home
Seeking input from families who have a child with special health care needs provides valuable first-hand experiences that primary care physicians would otherwise not realize. Practice staff can learn alot from families when they engage them in discussing the day-to-day issues, barriers and challenges they face in caring for and meeting the many needs of their child and family.
Physicians need to reach out and actively encourage parents to become “parent partners” with the practice. This can be done as part of an organized Quality Improvement Team (QIT) or through family surveys, focus groups or simply through everyday communication with families. Impromptu communication is a good tool, but planned communication efforts are more consistent and meaningful over time.
Practices often recognize the value but fail to elicit family input. Families understand the “little things” that make a visit to the physician effective and beneficial. This can include such things as how the practice has trained staff to answer an initial phone call, to how the practice can schedule additional time to treat children with special health care needs. By asking families “what could be done better”, or “what can we do to make your appointment more beneficial”, these simple questions can provide opportunities for families to help improve the quality of health care delivery within the practice.
Practices that have incorporated family involvement have seen changes that have enhanced the quality of care. Numerous practices across Illinois have made changes as a result of family involvement. Some of these changes include:
- Use of specific phone scripts at the point of initial contact to
help make the appointment go smoothly for the family. These scripts
often ask for family input on accommodations needed to improve their
visit experience, such as waiting in the waiting room versus being placed
immediately in the exam room.
- Assistance getting into and out of the office, when needed.
- Extended appointment times for children with special health care
needs.
- Routinely asking for family feedback in the form of surveys or questionnaires.
- Providing resources in the practice, like internet access or distributing
specific health related materials.
- Providing parent to parent connections by way of support groups or after hours informational meetings.
Why is family involvement the cornerstone of the Medical Home in your practice? Because each partner - the family, the primary care provider and other office staff - brings their unique perspective to the process. Each partner has important viewpoints to contribute to the process, so each has uniquely meaningful ways to enhance the delivery of quality health care.
Unity is strength... when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.
Mattie Stepanek
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.
Helen Keller
