Beyond the Medical Home: Cultivating Communities of Support for Children/Youth with Special Health Care Needs is a project in partnership with the NH Bureau of Special Medical Services (Title V), NH Family Voices, and the NH chapters of the American Academies of Pediatrics and Family Physicians.  Beyond the Medical Home (BMH) will extend previous CMHI efforts by improving transitions to adult services and by establishing effective methods of communication and coordination among families, community-based organizations and the Medical Home.  Two Medical Home practice networks, one in Concord (NH) and one located within NH’s Seacoast Region will address three critical needs: 1) expansion of Medical Home access within practice networks; 2) creation of transitions to adult services by inclusion of family medicine practices with a QI focus on transition; and 3) implementation of effective family and interagency coordination and communication strategies.

CMHI Consultation /Education As more organizations, primary care practices and agencies seek to measure, develop and improve medical homes for CSHCN, expertise is needed from those who have developed and applied a methodology in this growing improvement area. CMHI would like to share it's experience in bringing supportive improvements and measurements to practice sites, organizations, and state agencies in the development of primary care medical homes. Contact CMHI for details about our consultation/learning opportunities for your staff and to equip you to build medical homes in your community.

The Medical Home Index (practice tool) and the Medical Home Family Index (family tool) (developed and validated 1999-2001) have been created to aid practices, programs and agencies in the measurement of “medical homes” for children with special health care needs and their families. They measure the tangible and observable care processes offered by the practice and experienced by families who access primary care for their children. The Medical Home Improvement Kit , "Building a Medical Home: Improvement Strategies in Primary Care for Children with Special Health Care Needs" is keyed to the Medical Home Index and lays out a methodology for change with specific improvement strategies matched to the domain topics of the Index and detailed within the kit.

Evaluated Medical Home Outcomes Using Validated Measurement Tools CMHI will work with health plans, practices and consumers to create new data which will demonstrate the link between the medical home and favorable patient and family outcomes (October 2004-April 2006).

Medical Home Learning Collaborative A second Medical Home Learning Collaborative will occur in 2005 offered by the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality (NICHQ) in collaboration with CMHI and other faculty.. This collaborative will again support state Title V Programs for Children with Special Health Care Needs to partner with primary care practices helping to enhance their capacity as true medical homes (contact nichq.org)