Though medical homes are an important transformation to make, many practices have trouble changing deeply engrained habits and legacy systems. NICHQ helps by re-aligning practice focuses to put the patient first while teaching quality improvement methods to make successful, sustainable changes.
Some of the successful approaches NICHQ uses include sharing knowledge and innovation with healthcare professionals; building partnerships across traditional professional borders; partnering with families and patients; and spreading sustainable practice improvements in care settings. NICHQ also assists in technology improvements (particularly around electronic medical records), and developing tools, such as care plans or developing staff into “practice transformation facilitators” to provide practices with what they need to succeed. Finally, NICHQ also teaches the importance of integrating the parent voice and how to do this through parent partners or patient and family advisory councils.
The result of our work: more medical homes and the development of evidence-based best practices to keep the momentum going.