Medical Home
One out of three children cared for at LPCH has special health care needs and sees two or more specialists in addition to their primary care physician. The Division of General Pediatrics, through its primary care programs at LPCH provides a medical home for these children who often have complex medical conditions involving multiple diagnoses, care in several specialty clinics, and involvement with schools and community agencies . We use a health care team to care for these children consisting of an attending pediatrician, a continuity clinic resident, a physician’s assistant, a pharmacist, and a pediatric hospitalist. The program strives to provide continuous, longitudinal care and coordination of services across a range of specialties, ancillary services and community agencies. We use the concept of the “productive visit” where the family is contacted prior to the visit, a care plan is created or updated, all relevant medical records are obtained and the needs of the family are determined.
This information is then available to the provider before the visit and allows for an encounter that is efficient and tailored to the unique needs of the child and family. We are also planning to implement Google Health, a web based personal health record that will allow for bi-directional exchange of information between providers and families and portability of personal health information across different providers and sites.
