The Medical Home Leadership Network
News
What is the Medical Home Leadership Network?
Team Benefits
Team Expectations
History
MHLN Articles/ Materials
News
2010 MHLN Newsletters (all in Adobe Acrobat  ) Help with PDF
2009 MHLN Newsletters (all in Adobe Acrobat ) Help with PDF
Help with PDF
What is the Medical Home Leadership Network?
The Washington State Medical Home Leadership Network (MHLN) promotes and provides practical support for medical homes --family-centered, comprehensive coordinated primary health care-- for children and youth with special health care needs.
The MHLN is composed of:
- Volunteer, interdisciplinary parent-professional teams based in counties across the state,
- Project staff,
- A broad range of organizational partners
Teams
County MHLN teams typically include:
- Pediatrician or family physician experienced in the care of children with disabilities and chronic health conditions
- Parent of a child with special needs
- Public health nurse, usually the Children with Special Health Care Needs Coordinator for the county
- Early intervention family resources coordinator
Some teams add additional representatives -- for example, from mental health, oral health, early childhood programs such as Head Start, schools or other groups -- depending on the needs and interests of their community.
Team members are experienced at taking care of children with special health care needs and knowledgeable about practical aspects of implementing medical homes. There are currently 18 active teams with over 85 members, covering 18 of the state’s 39 counties and the majority of the state’s population. In addition, five counties (Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille) have individual representatives in the Network, but do not currently participate as a team.
While teams do not provide care to individual children as part of their work with the MHLN, they do identify and carry out activities to address one or more unmet medical home needs in their county. ( See list of primary activities for MHLN Teams in 2008-09)
Examples of team activities include:
- Presentations to primary care practices and others with practical tips for providing care through the model home model, including what community resources are available for children with special needs and how to access them
- Identifying/developing resource lists of community services need by children and outh with special needs
- Piloting Family Advisory Groups within team physician clinics
- Distributing Child Health Notes to community primary care providers and other service providers to increase awareness of specific care management issues for children with special needs and community and state resources available to help
- Piloting improved developmental screening strategies, such as county-wide universal developmental screening (Ages and Stages Questionnaire) through CHILD Profile mailings
- Sharing their expertise with state policymakers about state programs that impact care for children with special needs, their families, and health care providers
- Informal consultation with colleagues
- Collaborating on grants to expand team-related activities
Project Staff
MHLN project staff and colleagues at the University of Washington, Center on Human Development and Disability are available to provide technical assistance to MHLN teams. The MHLN also hosted an annual Medical Home conference for teams from 1995-2004 with the content based on needs identified by team members. The 2007 statewide MHLN conference "Putting Medical Homes into Practice" took place May 30, 2007.
Partners
It is a national and Washington State public health goal for every child and youth with special health care needs to have access to a medical home by the year 2010. A broad range of partners support the work of the Medical Home Leadership Network. The Washington State Department of Health, Children with Special Health Care Needs Program has provided core funding since the MHLN began in 1994. Additional funding and support has come from the US Maternal and Child Health Bureau, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the WA Early Support for Infants and Toddlers Program (ESIT) as well countless hours of volunteer time from community team members, member of the broad advisory team and many other supporters.
The MHLN is a key partner in Washington State's Medical Home Strategic Plan
The Medical Home concept has been endorsed as the standard of care by a growing number of health care provider organizations and other groups:
- The American Academy of Pediatrics
- The American Academy of Family Physicians
- National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
- American College of Physicians (Internal Medicine)
- American Osteopathic Association
- The US Maternal and Child Health Bureau
- Family Voices
(Link to policy statements from above groups)
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Benefits for MHLN Team Members
- Invitation to statewide MHLN conference with travel and lodging costs covered for at least 4 team members. Conference usually held biannually.
- Updates on successful strategies and new materials to support medical homes.
- Increased access to decision-makers in state and national agencies, health care plans, family organizations and other organizations impacting services for children with special health care needs and their families
- Regular communication with other innovative colleagues and communities in Washington and nationally through the annual conference, Network email listserv, and state and national Medical Home web sites
- Seed money for team-related activities ( $200 available for each MHLN team in 2008-09). Project materials and stationery.
- Technical assistance from project staff as requested, or help identifying appropriate technical assistance from MHLN state and national partners for local medical home activities
- Enhanced access to grant opportunities as a Medical Home team and community—both invitations to participate in grants written by the WA State Department of Health and others and help from staff at the American Academy of Pediatrics and MHLN staff to identify new sources of grants for activities developed locally
- Influence state and national policies as Washington State develops its statewide systems to support medical homes for all children and youth, including those with special health care needs and their families
- Personal and professional growth.
- The satisfaction of making a difference in the lives of children with special health care needs and their families.
Team Member Expectations
- Commitment to promoting the medical home approach to care for children with special health care needs and their families
- Willingness to be identified as a medical home resource person for community colleagues
- Respond to local inquiries as time permits or refer to MHLN project staff or others as appropriate
- Team representation at annual conference
- Quarterly local MHLN team meetings (in person or by phone)
- Team lead will share brief written or oral updates with project staff when requested (2-4 times/yr)
- Development of a simple workplan for local MHLN activities for the coming year (can revise plan over course of year)-- plan to build on needs of the community, while recognizing the personal and professional interests and time availability of team members
- Willingness to share materials and strategies developed with project staff to be shared with others.
History
The Medical Home Leadership Network began in 1994 as a collaborative effort between the Center on Human Development and Disability, Seattle Children's Hospital, the Washington Chapter of the Academy of Pediatrics, and the Washington State Department of Health, Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) Program.
Initial funding came from the Department of Health CSHCN Program and the US Maternal and Child Health Bureau for a demonstration project to provide training and support to physicians and public health nurses who served children with special health care needs. Additional funding was later provided by the Washington State Early Support for Infants and Toddlers to add Family Resources Coordinators and parents to the teams. Initially called the Medical Home Training and Resource Project, the name was changed to the Medical Home Leadership Network in 2000.
US MCHB Grant 2001-2005
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MHLN Articles/Materials
See also Brochures and Child Health Notes
Washington State Medical Home Newsletter
Washington State Physician Medical Home Report
Promoting Medical Homes for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs and their Families: September 2005. Results from interviews with 11 MHLN team physicians.
Medical Home Project (Final Report, June 1993)
= Adobe Acrobat file format. Help with PDF
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