Weiss Pediatric Care relies on every member of the practice team to continuously improve care for families and children. The practice seeks formal and informal family feedback to enhance care and to identify opportunities for innovation in areas such as family support, education, and outreach to community resources.

Implementation Insights:

  • Offer professional development opportunities for practice staff, both clinical and non-clinical.
  • Utilize multiple strategies for family feedback, including surveys, suggestion boxes, and advisory councils.
  • Continuously test changes in practice to enhance quality of care.

    Updated: January 2016

 Background Information
  • Type of Practice: Solo pediatric practice
  • Location: Sarasota, Florida
  • Population Served: 1600 patients are served through this practice every year; 85% of patients are privately insured and 15% are publicly insured.

 Pediatric Medical Home Implementation Strategies
  • Expand office hours and advertise expanded access using media that is effective and popular among families, including Web site, blogs, and paper handouts after office visits.
  • Seek family feedback through multiple strategies including the following:
    • Suggestion box
    • Family satisfaction surveys
    • Regular family advisory council meetings (three times per year)
  • Encourage team-based care in practice through the following strategies:
    • Implementation of daily team huddles
    • Host team meetings focused on quality improvement and practice enhancement
    • Offer in-house professional development opportunities to clinical and non-clinical support staff
  • Invite local community agencies and specialists serving children and families to attend team meetings in order to increase staff awareness and enhance ability to provide effective referrals.
  • Implement a "Care Coordination Fax Back" form to enhance bi-directional communication with specialists.
  • Include parenting specialists as members of the health care team. Specialists provide brief support sessions to families at the time of the office visit and extended consultation services via phone when appropriate.

 Challenges
  • Due to staffing and financial challenges, the practice was unable to pursue an official patient-centered medical home recognition and/or accreditation. Despite this challenge, the practice utilized patient-centered medical home standards as a guide to facilitating quality improvements in practice and provide care within the core tenets of the medical home.
  • The practices continues to struggle with creating a fiscally sustainable model of care given the complexity and comprehensive nature of providing truly patient- and family- centered care within a medical home.

 More Information
  • For more information, visit www.weisscare.com or contact Diane Weiss, Practice Administrator/Parenting and Child Development Specialist at Weiss Pediatric Care: diane@weisscare.com.
  • For tools and resources to assist with facilitating care coordination and referrals with specialists, visit the "Building Your Medical Home" online resource "Coordinated Care" section.