Supporting healthy children: Building relationships and promoting care coordination between child care and the primary care medical home

Background: According to the American Academy of Pediatrics' 2005 policy statement Quality Early Education and Child Care From Birth to Kindergarten, 60% to 70% of children younger than 6 years regularly attend some type of out-of-home child care or early childhood program. Pediatricians have an important role to play in improving access to quality early education and child care in their communities. However, in many states, including Illinois, interaction between child care providers and medical homes may be limited. Methods: Building on past successes with Early Intervention and home visiting programs, ICAAP sought to strengthen relationships between child care providers and medical homes through a three-pronged approach: 1) medical home-led trainings to child care providers on key health topics, including medication administration, developmental screening, and care coordination; 2) resources and tools to encourage and enable care coordination, including a standardized information-sharing form that incorporates parental consent; and 3) opportunities for interaction and relationship-building including written and oral communication. Child care provider knowledge was assessed before and after trainings. Conclusions: Through training on health topics, provision of care coordination resources, and opportunities for interaction, child care providers and medical homes can become more connected and engaged in providing coordinated care and messaging to young children and their families. Children benefit from the ability of child care providers to share important observations and concerns with the medical home. Parents/caregivers appreciate the consistent and clear communication between the medical home and the child care provider that results from documented information sharing.