There have been a number of articles, commentaries and policy statements reinforcing the importance of the medical home for children and families—but most of these have focused on getting a home established early for newborns, infants and toddlers. But what about older children?
Will the institution of a medical home structure in your practice enhance care to teens and young adults as well? Garcia-Huidobro et al. (peds.2015-3813) set out to show strong evidence of that by describing the results of a retrospective cohort study in Hennepin County, Minnesota between 2010 and 1014. Clinics with patient-centered medical homes were compared to clinics that lacked that supportive coordinated care structure.
The study looked at 729 patients in the study population of 21,704 who enrolled in medical home programs and found these teens and young adults to be more up to date on vaccinations, be better screening for sexually transmitted infections, and be prescribed contraception more often among a number of other positive findings associated with this care model. If you want to enhance preventive services for this population that is often at risk for unhealthy behaviors, this study may convince you, if you aren’t convinced already that the medical home is the way to go. Hope you agree either before and certainly after you read this study.
