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United Health Foundation Grant to the American Academy of Pediatrics to Help Pediatricians Improve Care Delivery Through Web-Based Program on Patient-Centered Medical Homes
United Health Foundation Grant to the American Academy of Pediatrics to Help Pediatricians Improve Care Delivery Through Web-Based Program on Patient-Centered Medical Homes
Published 06-11-08
Submitted by UnitedHealth Foundation
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - June 11, 2008 - The United Health Foundation today announced a $50,000 educational grant to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to assist pediatricians in providing enhanced quality and better coordinated care for our nation's children. This grant will advance development of the Academy's innovative Education in Quality Improvement for Pediatric Practice (eQIPP) web-based quality improvement initiative that supports the implementation of the "Medical Home" model for pediatric clinical care.
A patient-centered medical home is an approach to providing comprehensive primary care for people of all ages and medical conditions. It is a way for a physician-led medical practice to integrate health care services for that patient who encounters a complex and confusing health care system.
This model is based on an ongoing personal relationship with a physician. This personal patient/physician relationship provides continuous and comprehensive health care.
A medical practice that operates as a medical home consists of the personal physician leading a team of health care professionals who collectively take responsibility for the ongoing care of the patient. The personal physician is responsible for providing for all the patient’s health care needs or taking responsibility for managing care with other qualified professionals. This includes care for all stages of life, acute care, chronic care, preventive services and end-of-life care.
Renée Jenkins, M.D., president, AAP said, "A medical home is not a building, house, or a hospital, but rather an approach to providing family-centered care in a high-quality and cost-effective manner. Children and their families who have a medical home receive the care they need from a pediatrician and team whom they trust. This grant will help more pediatricians continue to improve their clinical practices consistent with the medical home concept."
The AAP's eQIPP is a web-based program which will allow participants to evaluate and improve quality of care by:
- earning continuing medical education credit toward maintenance of certification.
- evaluating their own practices online, identifying areas for improvement and implementing changes.
- participating in a quality improvement activity.
- comparing practice performance to peer practices on local, regional and national levels.
- learning from colleagues in an online collaborative environment.
- gaining instant access to credible and practicable online references.
Reed Tuckson, M.D., a director of the United Health Foundation board and executive vice president and chief of medical affairs for UnitedHealth Group said, "This grant continues a tradition of United Health Foundation's support for medical specialty societies in advancing innovations that lead to better quality care and best possible patient outcomes. We recognize and appreciate the Academy's leadership in advancing better quality and more coordinated cost-effective care."
Dawn Bazarko, RN, MPH, and senior vice president, clinical innovation, UnitedHealthcare said, "We commend the AAP's ongoing efforts to support new models of care such as the Patient-Centered Medical Home. These efforts, coupled with enhanced payments from UnitedHealthcare, will stimulate practice changes necessary to create sustainable changes in primary care and ultimately improve and personalize the care and service experience of patients."
The grant announced today is an important addition to the Foundation's ongoing commitment to advancing the Medical Home model throughout primary care delivery. The Foundation recently announced educational grants to the American College of Physicians (ACP) to develop a new Practice Improvement Workbook to assist Internists to more consistently provide the preventive services and chronic care that are at the heart of this model of care delivery. The Foundation also recently announced a grant to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) to help primary care physician practices meet the quality and clinical care standards necessary to be recognized as Primary Care Medical Homes. These grants are part of the Foundation's Advancing Clinical Excellence (ACE) program that will provide $500,000 in support to medical specialty societies for the purpose of assisting them in fulfilling their clinical quality improvement missions. Since 2000, the United Health Foundation has invested $42 million to help physicians and other health professionals advance clinical excellence, and the Foundation annually distributes Clinical Evidence, the prestigious British Medical Journal Publishing's guide to what works in clinical care to over 500,000 physicians.
About the American Academy of Pediatrics
The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 60,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. Learn more at www.aap.org.
About United Health Foundation
The Foundation provides reliable information to support health and medical decisions that lead to better health outcomes and healthier communities. The Foundation also supports activities that expand access to quality health care for those in challenging circumstances and partners to improve the well being of communities. The Foundation is a not-for-profit organization funded solely by UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH). For more information, visit www.unitedhealthfoundation.org.
