Care Partnership Support
Care partnership support addresses family access and communication—the hallmark of an effective family-centered medical home. In this section, you will find resources and tools to ensure family-centered care and enhance communication between a practice and its patients and families. This page provides additional resources as to what is provided in the Care Partnership Support section of the Building Your Medical Home toolkit.
According to the core principles 
developed by the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care, patient- and family-centered care is an approach to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of health care that is grounded in mutually beneficial partnerships among health care providers, patients, and families. It redefines the relationships in health care.
The National Partnership for Women & Families developed nine principles of family-centered care to guide the development and implementation of the medical home. These principles emphasize care that puts the patient first, emphasizes open communication, and supports the patient and his or her caregivers..
The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) defines family-centered care as a respectful family/professional partnership that honors the strengths, cultures, traditions, and expertise that everyone brings to the relationship. Family-centered care is the standard of practice which results in high quality services.
For additional information on family-centered medical home, visit the Family-Centered Medical Home Overview page of the NCMHI Web site.
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Brochures and Flyers
Creating a brochure for your practice is a great way to communicate to patients about office hours, contact information after normal business hours, and other key health information.
- Practice Brochure Template (editable format)
Building Your Medical Home toolkit
- Medical Home Overview Informational Flyers
National Center for Medical Home Implementation
These downloadable materials provide an overview of medical home tailored for various audiences to help spread the message that every child and youth deserves a medical home.
- Medical Home Coloring Sheets and Bookmarks for Kids
National Center for Medical Home Implementation
These downloadable coloring sheets and bookmarks will make learning about medical home fun for kids!
- Family Brochure: Every Child Deserves a Medical Home
Illinois Title V CSHCN program, the Division of Specialized Care for Children (DSCC)
This
brochure to helps families of CSHCN better understand how they can work with their primary health care provider to establish a Medical Home.
- A Medical Home is About You
National Partnership for Women & Families
This brochure describes how families can get the most from medical home.
Promotional Posters
- Connecticut Medical Home Poster: The CT Medical Home System of Care for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs
( PDF )
- Oregon Medical Home Posters (3 posters are available in one document)
- Medical Home Posters for Practices from the Illinois Medical Home Team
All of the following posters include: [Pediatric Practice Name] is proud to announce a new approach for providing care that will help improve quality health care for children with special health care needs. This nationally recognized way of providing care is called Medical Home.
- Medical Home: A Family-Professional Partnership
Your link to a bright future for children with special health care needs (Each poster has a different image and is available in 2 sizes)
- Destination Medical Home
Your ticket to a healthy future for children with special health care needs
- Medical Home Posters from the Hawaii Medical Home Team
The Medium and Large sizes are larger than what a printer allows. You will need to download the posters to a CD and take them to a printer. To order free copies, email Sharon Taba at medicalhomesharon@hawaii.rr.com. A limited number are available and shipping costs are not included.
Practice Web sites
For additional information on how practice Web sites can help to support the medical home, visit the Health Information Technology (HIT) page of the NCMHI Web site.
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In an effective medical home, the child’s or youth’s and family’s cultural background, including beliefs, rituals, and customs, are recognized, valued, respected, and incorporated into the care plan. Further, all efforts are made to ensure that the child or youth and family understand the results of the medical encounter and the care plan, including the provision of (para)professional translators or interpreters, as needed.
Resources for Patients/Families
- Does Your Child Have a MEDICAL HOME? /¿Tiene Su Hijo un HOGAR MÉDICO?
Washington State Medical Home
This brochure for families features an explanation of what a medical home is, the benefits of a medical home, and how to know if your child has one. The brochure includes tips from families about how you and your child's medical home doctor and care team can work together to improve care for your child. There is space on the back panel for a label with local contacts or resources. This brochure is at the eighth grade reading level.
- Health Care Advocacy
Across the Lifespan—What Parents of Children
with Disabilities Need to Know / Defensoría del Cuidado de la Salud Durante Toda la Vida—Lo que los Padres de los Niños con Discapacidades Necesitan Saber
Family Voices of New Jersey
- Parent Tips: Building Early Intervention Partnerships with Your Child's Doctor
Washington State Infant Toddler Early Intervention Program and the University of Washington Center for Human Development and Disabilities
This brochure includes practical tips from and for parents in how to choose, partner and talk with your child's doctor, how to be an advocate for your child in early intervention and involve your doctor in early intervention services for your child. Available in: English · Cambodian · Chinese · Korean · Laotian · Russian · Spanish · Vietnamese .
- Resources to Encourage Spanish Speakers to Become More Active Partners in Their Care
The Spanish-language campaign Toma las riendas (Take the reins) is a nationwide effort to encourage individuals of Hispanic descent to take control of their health and explore treatment options. The AHRQ Effective Health Program now has more than 20 free, Spanish-language publications that provide information about common conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, and depression. For Spanish-language consumer tools, click here.
- Signage for the Multilingual Health Care Setting
Hablamos Juntos
This set of symbols is used to provide directions to key locations in multilingual health care settings. Symbols and signs can help overcome barriers to care.
- Spanish-Language Medication Safety Booklet
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
This Spanish-language medication safety booklet, Su medicamento: Infórmese. Evite riesgos (Your Medicine: Be Smart. Be Safe.) helps Spanish-speaking patients learn more about how to take medicines safely. The booklet includes a detachable, wallet-size card that can help patients keep track of medicines they are taking, including vitamins and herbal and other dietary supplements.
Resources for Providers
- AAP Resources/Tools
- Culturally Effective Care Toolkit
This toolkit is a practical, hands-on resource to help practicing pediatricians and their office staff provide culturally effective care to their patients and families. The toolkit provides tools and information regarding health beleirs, interpretinve serices, nutrition, health literacy, and much more.
- Health Equity Resources
This Web page includes information regarding AAP health equity activities and educational initiatives.
- Spanish for Pediatric Medicine—A Practical Communication Guide
Enhance patient and parent encounters with this expanded pocket guide. This easy-to-use manual helps providers communicate with Spanish-speaking patients and parents more efficiently and effectively. Now optimized for use with AAP Bright Futures and including an all-new audio program to help improve comprehension and pronunciation.
- National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) Resources/Tools
- Culture, Language and Health Literacy
Health Resources and Services Administration
Resources for health care providers to improve their knowledge and understanding of culture, language and health literacy.
- How Can States Get Federal Funds to Help Pay for Language Services for Medicaid and CHIP Enrollees?
National Health Law Program
This resource aims to assist states in evaluating best practices for setting up language services reimbursement. The report details federal funding available to states to pay for language services and describes technical requirements that vary from state to state.
- More Than Words Toolkit Series
Hablamos Juntos and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
This series clarifies the translation process, and provides a roadmap to help health care organizations improve the quality of their translated materials.
- Multicultural Health Care: A Quality Improvement Guide
NCQA in collaboration with Lilly USA, LLC
This guide serves as a resource for those wanting to undertake quality improvement initiatives to improve culturally and linguistically appropriate services and to reduce disparities in care. It is organized into four chapters that follow the steps of a basic quality improvement process: assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
- Think Cultural Health
US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health
The revised Think Cultural Health Web site provides a new look, a new set of features, and more cultural and linguistic competency resources. A section of the Web site is now dedicated to the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS Standards).
Promising Practices in Cultural Competency
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AAP Literacy Toolkit
This toolkit is an interactive Web-based resource designed to help health professionals encourage all parents to read with their children. The site is meant to introduce a wide variety of strategies and tools to support the mission of promoting child development and future school success. There are evidence based tips for parents available in a variety of languages and reading levels, posters, book lists for a variety of ages and topics, and links to many helpful resources.
AAP Pedialink Course - Health Literacy
AAP has launched a Pedialink continuing medical education (CME) course for pediatric health care providers to increase health literacy awareness. The course is free to residents.
Health Literacy and Pediatrics
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
This page provides information and links to resources and initiatices realted to health literacy and pediatrics.
Culture, Language and Health Literacy
Health Resources and Services Administration
Resources for health care providers to improve their knowledge and understanding of culture, language and health literacy.
Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
This toolkit
helps adult and pediatric primary care practices assess their services for health literacy considerations, raise awareness among staff, and identify areas for improvement.
As noted by AHRQ, "research suggests that clear communication practices and removing literacy-related barriers will improve care for all patients, regardless of their level of health literacy."
Toolkit for Making Written Material Clear and Effective
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
This toolkit contains 11 sections that provide a detailed, comprehensive set of tools to help make written material in printed formats easier for people to read, understand, and use, including culturally appropriate translation, graphic design guidelines, feedback collection from readers, and more.
Unified Health Communication 101: Addressing Health Literacy, Cultural Competency, and Limited English Proficiency
Health Resources and Services Administration
This free online course is designed to help health professionals improve their patient-communication skills, increase their awareness and knowledge of factors that affect their communication with patients, and implement patient-centered communication practices. The course comprises five modules and is estimated to take a total of five hours to complete.
Washington Learning Systems—Vietnamese Parent-Child Early Literacy Activities
Washington Learning Systems
These materials, designed for children birth to 3, encourage early language and literacy development. They are appropriate for children with disabilities as well as children who are developing typically. The materials are specifically designed to address the three key skills of language development, sounds and rhythms, and general book and print awareness. Materials may be copied and distributed as long as they are not sold.
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Parents as Primary Care Policy Advisors
The Parent Advisory Group at Nashaway Pediatrics, Sterling, MA. Promising Practices: Family-Professional Collaborations That Promote Improvement in Services for Children With Special Health Care Needs - Massachusetts Consortium; June 3, 2004.
Patients and Families as Advisors
Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care
Patient and Family Advisory Council Work Plan: Getting Started
Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care
Resources on Involving People with Disabilities as Members of Advisory Groups
Montana Disability and Health Program
These guidelines offer suggestions and resources on how to involve people with disabilities as active members and advisors of local and community groups. Topics covered in the guidelines include:
- Educating Yourself and Your Group
- Recruiting Participants
- Providing Accommodations and Access to Meetings
- Physical Access
- Information Access and Exchange
- Additional References and Resources
Title V Toolbox for Family Participation
Family Voices
This toolbox has materials created by states to develop family advisory committees or councils. Descriptions, guidelines, by-laws, and information forms are available.
General Publications on Parent Advisory Groups
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AHRQ Brochure Helps Track Your Medications
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
This brochure includes a wallet card that can help you keep track of medicines and have that information with you in an emergency.
AHRQ Self-management Profiles
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Three profiles of innovative programs that incorporated self-management into their treatment of patients with chronic conditions, including the Urban Health Plan Asthma Relief Street program in the Bronx, NY. The program provides self-management support to low-income individuals with asthma along with standardized screening and guideline-based treatment. The program increased the number of people diagnosed with and treated for asthma, reduced asthma hospitalizations among children, and generated significant cost savings. The profile also includes an expert commentary on Self-Management Requires Working Patient-Physician Partnership.
Let’s Move Child Care Checklist
The checklist underscores five principles, including one to two hours of daily exercise and zero screen time for children younger than 2. The checklist is a guide for parents and child-care centers to help improve children's health. She also noted that 1,600 child-care centers in the US have committed to promoting healthy eating and exercise habits.
Partnering in Self-Management Support: A Toolkit for Clinicians 
Institute for Healthcare Improvement
The concepts in this toolkit are intended to give busy clinical practices an introduction to a set of activities and changes that support patients and families in the day-to-day management of chronic conditions. The toolkit includes tested resources and tools and high-leverage changes and offers a number of ways to begin trying them with a small number of patients.
Text4baby
A free mobile information service designed to promote maternal and child health. The AAP has partnered with the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) to provide this educational program that arms pregnant women and new moms with information they need to take care of their health and give their babies the best possible start in life. Women who sign up for the service by texting BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to 511411 will receive free SMS text messages each week, timed to their due date or baby’s date of birth.
Texting to Prevent Birth Defects
Not all birth defects can be prevented; however, a woman can increase her chances of having a healthy baby by taking some easy steps. To help women remember those steps, the Prevention Research Team at the CDC National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) has developed a health campaign using mobile text messages.
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AAP Practice Management Online (PMO) Patient Survey
*Note: This tool is available to AAP members via Practice Management Online (PMO).
This page houses sample documents that can be used or modified to ask patient's about their satisfaction with their office visit.
CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey
This tool assesses how adopting the medical home model affects patients.
Family-Centered Care Self-Assessment Tool—Provider Tool
Family Voices
Medical Home Family Index
Center for Medical Home Improvement (CMHI)
Patient-and Family-Centered Ambulatory Care: A Checklist
Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care
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The CAHPS Improvement Guide—Practical Strategies for Improving the Patient Care Experience
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh offers iPhone App for Parents
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh has developed a mobile application called ChildrensPgh. It allows parents to access information on making online medical appointments, contacting providers and going to the hospital's emergency department. The iPhone app also provides some basics on first aid and medication dosing.
Indiana University Podcasts
The Courier-Journal reports that the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis began a monthly, 30-minute podcast called Kids Healthcast that offers information on pediatric health issues, such as childhood obesity, to families. Project supervisor Dr Deanna R Reinoso said that the podcasts are designed to provide general health information and that parents should still consult pediatricians for specific health concerns.
Medical Home Tools in the News—East TN Kids iPhone App
East Tennessee Children's Hospital has a new iPhone/iPod application that allows parents, grandparents, and caregivers to input children's medical history into the convenient, portable, and password protected application. Use of this application is an example of parents taking an active roll in partnering with their physician to manage and track their child’s care. The East TN Kids app also has a KidsHealth section that is stocked with hundreds of articles on health, first aid, safety, medical problems, infections, emotions and behavior, growth and development, nutrition and fitness, pregnancy and newborn care.
My Child’s Map to Services
Family Voices of Washington
This guide for families in accessing community services is a quick reference guide for families just receiving a new diagnosis of Autism for their child by providing information on therapeutic services and contact information for state services, including family-to-family support. The language utilized throughout the tool is clear and appropriate for all families, regardless of income or insurance coverage. It is available in Spanish and in versions for Korean and Cambodian communities.
The Patient-Centered Medical Home: Strategies to Put Patients at the Center of Primary Care
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
This brief highlights opportunities to improve patient engagement in primary care and focuses on involvement at three levels: the engagement of patients and families in their own care, in quality improvement activities in the primary care practice, and in the development and implementation of policy and research related to the patient-centered medical home (PCMH).
Patient-Physician Communication: It’s About Time
Journal of the American Medical Association
In this article, the authors offer strategies for the medical profession to make a renewed commitment to "excellence in the communication skills of physicians" in order to decrease medical errors, and improve quality, safety, and the patient experience of care.
Primary Care/Medical Home
As featured on the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care Web site, learn how several practices in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Minnesota implement family-centered care.
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Delivering Difficult News
Frances P Glascoe, PhD
Information for physicians on delivering diagnosis/results to patients.
Effective Communication Techniques
*Note: This tool is available to AAP members via Practice Management Online (PMO).
This article, an excerpt from Plain Language Pediatrics: Health Literacy Strategies and Communication Resources for Common Pediatric Topics, provides tips on effective communication techniques.
Interpreting Screening Tests to Families and Encouraging Follow Through
Frances P Glascoe, PhD
Offers tips for explaining screening results and recommendations to parents
Patient-Centered Interactions Implementation Guide
The Safety Net Medical Home Initiative
Sponsored by The Commonwealth Fund, in collaboration with eight co-funders, The Safety Net Medical Home Initiative is a five-year demonstration project designed to help 65 community health centers in five states transform into patient-centered medical homes. Through this demonstration project, implementation guides are available for the following key building blocks of a medical home: empanelment; team-based care; patient-centered interactions; engaged leadership; and enhanced access.
Patient-Clinician Communication: Principles and Expectations
Institute of Medicine
This publication outlines the key principles for achieving patient-centered care by improving communication between patients and healthcare providers. The report also emphasizes the importance of cultural and environmental factors to the success in achieving expectations for the care experience.
Provider Resources for Vaccine Conversations with Parents
American Academy of Pediatrics , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Academy of Family Physicians
Take as Directed: Improving Adherence in the Primary Care or Specialist Care Setting
Edward Christophersen, PhD and Susan Mortweet VanScoyoc, PhD
This resource focuses on how to improve adherence to medical regimens using behavior principles.
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