Become a Medical Home

The EPIC-IC Medical Home Initiative is a non-profit quality improvement program that works with pediatric practices in Pennsylvania to help them implement Medical Home concepts.

• Advances in health care have made it possible for increasing numbers of CYSCHN to be care for in the home and community, but doing so requires a new system of approaches to providing care.
• All pediatric and family practices have some CYSCHN in their practice.
• A medical home provides acute, chronic, and preventive medical care services. Preventive services (physical exams, developmental screenings, patient/family focused education, immunizations, access to community-based services) promote optimal health.
• Patient satisfaction is increasingly used by purchasers a measure of quality of care.

Since 2001, the EPIC-IC Medical Home Initiative has worked with over 100 practices in all six geographic regions of Pennsylvania. Participants include small, medium, and large practices which are independent, part of networks, or embedded in hospital or community settings. Practices are located in urban, suburban, and rural areas. Participation in the Pennsylvania Medical Home Initiative is voluntary...Medical Home practices simply wish to work closely with families to access all medical and non-medical resources needed to help each child reach his or her full potential. 

Provide higher quality of care to children and youth with special health care needs (CYSCHN).

• Learn how to connect with parents and solicit their involvement as partners in their child's health care.
• Empower patients to improve their lives and act as partners in their own health care.
• Develop a policy to aid teenage patients in their transition to adult care.
• Learn to utilize medical and non-medical community resources to improve patient care.
• Create a positive office environment which will support your efforts to treat the whole child, including physical, behavioral, social, and mental needs.

Facilitate professional growth.

• Receive CME credits for attending free EPIC-IC conferences. EPIC-IC has hosted conferences on Transition to Adulthood, Foster Care, Mental Health, Traumatic Brain Injury, Cultural Competence, and Family-Centered Care.
• Interact with a larger community of health care professionals via monthly teleconferences and biyearly conferences.
• Share your knowledge and benefit from the experience of others.

Improve practice finances.

• Discover how to get reimbursement for the care coordination services you provide every day.
• Collect data to prove that strong preventive care is cost-effective.

"Special needs" refers to any child who has or is at risk of developing chronic conditions which require health services of a type and amount not usually required by children of the same age. This includes conditions such as asthma, ADHD, rare genetic disorders, congenital heart defects, severe allergies, developmental disabilities, emotional or behavioral health needs, and hundreds of other disorders.

CYSHCN stands for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs. Recent survey data from the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 13% of children nationwide have special health care needs.