Newport CATCH Grant

The Newport County Medical Home Initiative is collaborating with the Newport Housing Authority to provide a Medical Home Training to the management staff, and resident leaders from the Authority’s neighborhoods. The Housing Authority manages over 1000 units. The Workshop will include information on the parent’s role in the Medical Home presented by Marlene Davis RN, a presentation on RIte Care Benefits, presented by Amy Lapierre, Covering Kids, and a case study presented by Diana Kriner, Parent Consultant for Aquidneck Medical Associates that will demonstrate the new, versus the traditional care coordination system. Rebekah Rosen-Gomez, Family Service Coordinator, will discuss the needed cultural competence to care for the Latino population. Our long term plan is to create a neighborhood leadership team that will assess ongoing educational needs for the children and families in the Newport Housing Authority.

The Newport County Medical Home Initiative has submitted a grant to the AAP to develop a Health Education Team (HET). The HET will be a multidisciplinary workgroup lead by a nurse educator. We plan to do systematic evaluation of the communities education needs and will provide diagnostic based education to Parents, Schools, Students, and other interested parties. For further information contact Jim Sattel

A subcommittee of the Advisory Board held a meeting on January 11, 2005 to develop an assessment of needs for a proposed third and fourth year of funding. The categories that evolved out of the assessment include: Parent Outreach Education/Cultural Competence, Coordinator Single Point of Contact, relationship between the schools and community agencies to the medical home, and to sustain existing work. Our plan is to submit the aforementioned activities to The Advisory Committee for further discussion and to develop an action plan.

New Medical Homes To Deliver More Comprehensive Care

With *12.8% or 12.5 M children under the age of 21 that have special health care needs and consuming 80% of pediatric health care dollars, a new approach to pediatric health care delivery was developed. It’s called the Medical Home Initiative, patterned after new standards of practice created by the American Academy Pediatricians and the Academy for Family Practice Physicians. East Bay Community Action Program (EBCAP) manages and operates the Newport County Medical Home Initiative, funded by Newport Hospital and the Rhode Island Department of Health.

A Medical Home is a doctor’s office that integrates all aspects of care – medical, sub-specialists, social, mental health, rehabilitative, Head Start and WIC and other health and human services – into their practice. To the extent possible, services are provided in the local community and all types of heath insurance plans are accepted by the provider. By having one Primary Care Physician (PCP) as the focal point of and resource for all health care services, children receive more coordinated, comprehensive, family-centered and preventive-focused care. This is especially important for children with special medical needs.

A wide-reaching initiative, Medical Homes involves three constituents on behalf of the families and their children: doctors, parents and social service agencies. The past year has been spent training physician’s offices to integrate all aspects of care into their routine; educating parents about the importance of preventive and coordinated care; and working with social service agencies to help families to coordinate services. The value of the program is that by focusing on preventive care instead of waiting for a child to get sick, we can prevent illnesses, prevent small problems from becoming crises, and prevent the use of the Emergency Room as a primary care site. And by coordinating specialty care services through one PCP, we can ensure each child receives high quality, cost-effective and timely care.

While the first year of the program was spent on developing practice policy, education and training, the initiative is now beginning to implement Medical Homes at pediatric practices across the county. We’re getting resources into physician’s offices and putting helpful infrastructure for parents in place.

The Medical Home Initiative is working collaboratively with the new parent consultant at Aquidneck Medical Associates. The position is funded by the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Department of Human Services. The parent consultant will link families to needed sub-specialty and community services, thus relieving parents from having to navigate what is often a fragmented and confusing health care delivery system. Medical Homes, along with our extensive training for families, agencies and physicians, will result in more efficient use of limited resources, increased wellness resulting from comprehensive care, and a forum for collaborative problem solving. In the long run, the initiative will result in healthier children and increased access to care. To learn more about this cutting edge venture, or to arrange a presentation, contact Jim Sattel at 847-2100 ext 223.

*September, ‘04 American Academy of Pediatrics Journal