Pediatric Primary Care at Mountainside

Children’s Specialized Hospital has offered a Pediatric Practice for well over 20 years. It was originally funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a pilot for a medical home that would treat children with complex medical needs. It is not a separate building, house, or hospital, but instead a way to provide comprehensive primary care to children with special needs and their siblings.

Earlier this year (2014), we recruited Dr. Matt McDonald, Section Chief - Inpatient and Special Needs Pediatrics, to lead a team to turn the “idea” of a medical home initiative into a reality. I’m happy to announce that yesterday, December 10, we officially launched Pediatric Primary Care at Mountainside.

Our Primary Care Practice has been highly praised by the families who have access to the care that we provide. Pediatric Primary Care at Mountainside is special in the way the team cares for children with complex healthcare needs. No other pediatric rehabilitation center across the country is implementing this type of innovative care coordination model.

In order for this program to be successful and approved by the National Committee for Quality Assurance – we “must pass” the six required elements:

1. Access during office hours
2. Use data for population management
3. Care management
4. Support self-care process
5. Referral tracking and follow-up
6. Implement continuous quality improvement

Pediatric Primary Care will offer same-day appointments, a web portal that provides better access to the patient’s medical information, the ability to handle more aspects of care remotely, and regular follow-ups.

We are examining ways to use technology more efficiently; to better support our families, and go beyond the service of primary care and service as the care coordination of ALL of the care needed by the child and family. This means linking all of the various clinicians (regardless of whether they are at Children’s Specialized or not) and share information to manage the whole child in one database that is actively managed by a care management team.

So many times our kids have to repeat tests, and because there is often so much to communicate about what is going on in the health of the whole child, things can be missed. 

Folks, this is BIG. This service is going to help us set the bar nationally in caring for children with special and complex medical needs. Teamwork is the most critical part of transforming our current practice and making it successful for our patients and families. It is a huge undertaking – to envision this program, then to build it both from a technology and clinical skill set.

Thank you to Dr. Matt McDonald and entire team who has made this happen.

Adding this service to our care is important to our families. It allows them to be certain that their children are receiving the best care. We are excited to offer this service at Mountainside now, with the intention of rolling out the program to additional sites shortly after. 

For more information visit http://www.medicalhomeinfo.org/.

For detailed information on recognition visit http://www.ncqa.org.