​Hagan, Rinehart, and Connolly Pediatricians is a pediatric primary care group practice that is enhancing the pediatric medical home model. The practice has leveraged existing technology, partnerships, and staff to enhance coordinated and family-centered care by implementing activities from "Achieving a Shared Plan of Care" from the Lucile Packard Foundation over a two-year period. The activities from "Achieving a Shared Plan of Care" provide practical, replicable strategies for practices and family partners to engage in care planning from beginning until end of a project. Hagan, Rinehart, and Connolly Pediatricians were able to implement these strategies over a two-year period.

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Implementation Insights:

  • Leverage existing technology and resources for development and implementation of shared plans of care and care coordination strategies.
  • Establish relationships and utilize services in the community to enhance support and team-based care for families.
  • Utilize shared plans of care as a tool to support family engagement, care coordination, and cultural competency.

     Updated: May 2018

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 Background Information
      • Type of Practice: Group pediatric primary care practice
      • Location: Burlington, VT
      • Population Served: 3,000 patients with a large portion including children and youth with special health care needs and/or children on Medicaid

 Pediatric Medical Home Implementation Strategies
      • Partner with family advisors to develop and implement a shared plan of care for the clinic.
      • Provide stipends to family/caregiver partners for their time and involvement as partners and advisors of the practice.
      • Utilize technology to support development and implementation of shared plans of care to ensure all members of the clinical team can access care plans for each child and family.
      • Utilize shared plans of care to facilitate discussion and set goals and treatment plans for each child based on the family's culture, values, and priorities.
      • Conduct care conferences involving families, clinical staff, social workers, community health workers, schools, and community organizations on a quarterly basis to discuss the care of the children/youth at the clinic and in the community.
      • Conduct monthly quality improvement meetings with families, care coordinator, office manager, and lead physician to enhance utilization of the shared plans of care.
      • Assign roles to various team members and identify a lead care coordinator to ensure connectivity with child/youth's pediatrician.
      • Gather feedback on family's perceptions through an "Experience of Care" questionnaire. Qualitative feedback is obtained from families who attend monthly quality improvement team meetings.

 Challenges
      • ​The practice struggled with technological issues, such as avoiding duplication of efforts within the electronic health record and shared plans of care. To address this issue, the practice utilized a digital platform for shared plans of care that was compatible with their practice.

 More Information
      • ​For more information, contact Jill S Rinehart, MD, FAAP, Hagan, Rinehart & Connolly Pediatricians, PLLC at jillrinehartmd@gmail.com.