Medical home model as a means to optimize health and development of high-risk children

The medical home model was first proposed by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1967 as a way to optimize health care for children with special health care needs, defined as children with developmental, behavioral and psychosocial problems associated with chronic medical conditions. In this presentation we will describe how the medical home model of care contributes to the health and development of high-risk infants and young children, with an emphasis on children in poverty. The medical home model incorporates services to enhance access to care such as facilitated public insurance enrollment and transportation; providing the screenings that comprise Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) which may identify development, hearing, vision, and oral health needs; making and tracking referrals for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and other supplemental nutrition programs, linkages to mental health, oral health, hearing and vision care services and others for coordinated and integrated care in an enhanced medical home model; screening for overweight/obesity beginning at 24 months (with a plan to follow up for children at risk); and best practice asthma care. The presentation will include a discussion of implementation of the medical home model through State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) initiatives funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Project Thrive, the policy support initiative for ECCS grantees, helps states strengthen and expand their early childhood systems to reduce disparities in access and quality of early childhood health and mental health care.