Benefits of Care Coordination for Children with Complex Disease: A Pilot Medical Home Project in a Resident Teaching Clinic

Objective To study the integration of comprehensive care coordination for children with complex disease in our resident education clinic at University of California Los Angeles by analyzing alterations in medical resource use. Study design The Pediatric Medical Home Project at University of California Los Angeles was designed to include 4 basic elements: 1) 60-minute intake appointment; 2) follow-up appointments twice the length of a standard visit; 3) access to a "family liaison"; and 4) a family notebook ("All about Me" binder). From the initial cohort of 43 patients, encounter data on 30 were analyzed to determine use of outpatient, urgent, emergency department (ED), and inpatient services. Encounters for each patient were compared for a period of 1 year before and 1 year after enrollment. Results The average number of ED visits per patient decreased from 1.1 ± 1.7 before enrollment to 0.5 ± 0.9 after medical home enrollment ( P = .02). However, no significant change was found in use of any of the other health care resources studied. Conclusions Incorporating a program of care coordination according to the principles of the medical home into an outpatient pediatric residency teaching clinic may not only serve as a training vehicle for pediatric residents, but also create favorable alterations in medical resource use.