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Importance of Preventive Health Care for the Family
Primary health care is aimed at the prevention of disease or disability. This includes services proven effective in avoiding the occurrence of a disease (primary prevention) and services proven effective in mitigating the consequences of an illness or condition (secondary prevention). Primary health care services include: (random order) Importance of a Medical Home for Your Child A "Medical Home" - What is it and why is this important? According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the medical care of infants, children, adolescents and young adults ideally should be accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, compassionate and culturally effective. It should be delivered or directed by well-trained physicians who provide primary care and help to manage and facilitate essentially all aspects of pediatric care. The physician should be known to the child and family, and be able to develop a partnership of mutual responsibility and trust.
Care provided outside of a medical home (in emergency departments or walk-in clinics) is more costly and often less effective. Still, one of the current barriers to the medical home concept is inadequate reimbursement for the quality services offered in a medical home setting. Want to learn more about the importance of a medical home? Log on to: www.aap.org/policy/s060016.html |
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The AAP states that a medical home can be a physician's office, a hospital
outpatient clinic, a community health center or school-based clinic, as long
as it provides the services that constitute comprehensive care. Those
services include continuous access to medical care (24 hours a day, seven
days a week); when appropriate, referral to pediatric medical subspecialists
and surgical specialists; and interaction with child care, early childhood
education programs and schools to ensure that the special needs of the child
and family are addressed.