Comprehensive Care Provided in an Enhanced Medical Home to Improve Outcomes and Reduce Costs for High-Risk Chronically Ill Children

INTRODUCTION

Although the patient-centered medical home is widely recommended to promote cost-effective healthcare1-6, it has not been shown in systematic reviews to improve clinical outcomes or reduce medical costs.3,4 Medical homes have greatest potential value for high-risk patients, including chronically ill children whose care is often fragmented, costly, and ineffective. However, the justifiably stringent requirements for practice guidelines and the necessity to control health care costs require compelling evidence of cost-effectiveness before undertaking all that will be required to disseminate the patient-centered medical home for high-risk chronically ill children throughout the U.S. For this reason we propose a randomized trial to assess whether an enhanced medical home providing comprehensive care is cost-effective in preventing serious illness (death, pediatric intensive care admission, or hospital stay >7d) among high-risk chronically ill children in our center. Our study obtained expedited approval by our Institutional Review Board (IRB) as a quality improvement (QI) study.

METHODS

After verbal informed parental consent is obtained (as allowed by our institutional review board for a minimal-risk QI trial to increase access to care), children are randomized (using sealed, opaque, sequentially numbered envelopes) to usual care or comprehensive care after stratification by maternal education (high school graduate or not) and predicted risk of hospitalization (50-74%; >75%).

Comprehensive Care involves care for acute and chronic problems from an ethnically diverse team of pediatricians and pediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs) who are highly trained and experienced in treating these complex, fragile children and available at all hours by phone and 40 hours/week in a special high-risk children's clinic. This clinic serves as a novel medical home where both primary and specialty services are provided in the same clinic at the same visit. The clinic is also staffed by a nutritionist and social worker and attended monthly by a dedicated subspecialist in pediatric gastroenterology, in neurology, and in allergy/immunology. A pediatric infectious disease specialist helped develop measures to reduce, promptly diagnose, and effectively treat infections. These subspecialists are available by phone for consultation at all hours. Acute problems presenting before 5 pm are seen that day; those occurring on weekends or nights are seen the next weekday in the morning. At any hour an emergency department (ED) visit or hospitalization is needed, our staff discusses the child with the responsible MD and schedules prompt follow-up visits. Multiple measures, e.g., recording and staff review of phone calls; daily checks of ED and hospital logs; detailed review of all care before hospitalizations; parent surveys; and active input of our Parent Advisory Board, are used to promote highest quality of care.