A New Vision for Well-Child Care
<p>Today's "one-size-fits-all" approach to well-child care in the U.S. does not work. While many families are subjected to unnecessary visits, many others, especially those from poor and minority families, do not receive needed services due to time or resource constraints.<br><br>In the new Commonwealth Fund report, <a href="/cnlib/pub/enews_clickthrough.htm?enews_item_id=25017&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecmwf%2Eorg%2Fpublications%2Fpublications%5Fshow%2Ehtm%3Fdoc%5Fid%3D417069%26%23doc417069">A High-Performing System for Well-Child Care: A Vision for the Future,</a> Stanford University's David Bergman, M.D., and colleagues present a model for effective, efficient well-child care, as well as a guide for future policy and research efforts. Their ideal well-child system would include advanced access to services, such as systems to allow parents to make same-day appointments, as well as team-based care and individualized developmental and behavioral screening.<br><br>As envisioned by the authors, each child's care would be coordinated through a "medical home," aided by tools for information and knowledge transfer. These would include a personal health record that each family could use to engage in secure electronic communications with their clinicians, view test results and visit summaries, input health information, and share information with other health care professionals.<br><br>Also read the Fund's <a href="/cnlib/pub/enews_clickthrough.htm?enews_item_id=25018&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecmwf%2Eorg%2Fspotlights%2Fspotlights%5Fshow%2Ehtm%3Fdoc%5Fid%3D405673%26%23doc405673">"In the Spotlight"</a> Q&A with Dr. Bergman.</p>
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletters/ealerts/2006/oct/a-new-vision-for-well-child-care