Dialing 2-1-1 to See What Develops :

Since 2000, the Federal Communications Commission has established 2-1-1 as a dialing code to gain access to community information and referral services. Since then, the role of 2-1-1 has begun to play more and more of a role in getting patients and families better access to what they need in terms of narrowing the gaps in a number of social determinants of health.  Can these 2-1-1 systems be used to help coordinate care for children with suspected developmental delay? Nelson et al. (10.1542/peds.2018-1064) studied if 2-1-1 can be a better referral tool for developmental screening than a usual health maintenance visit.  The authors randomized 152 children, ages 12-42 months at one community health center in Los Angeles with 77 being screened over the phone using 2-1-1 and in turn referred for intervention services based on developmental delay detected, and 75 getting usual care.   The results were strongly favorable for the 2-1-1 intervention group for referral and receipt of services compared to children who get usual care alone.  While the authors don’t provide clinical outcome data, the use of 2-1-1 to improve efficacy of developmental screening and referral services is impressive.  If your community is not using 2-1-1 to do what Nelson et al. did in this study, link to this article and then see what might develop for your own practice –or better yet, call 2-1-1 and see if your local use of this number can do for your patients what it did for the children in the Los Angeles practice that participated in this study.