PA Medical Home Program

A Medical Home is not a building, a house, or a hospital...it is an approach to providing health care to Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN) by using the child's primary pediatric practice as a hub for coordinating all medical care.

The goal of the Medical Home Initiative is to provide CYSHCN with healthcare services that are accessible, family-centered, continuous, comprehensive, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally competent.

In a Medical Home, health professionals, and families work as a team to access all medical and non-medical services necessary to help children reach their full potential.

The PA Chapter, AAP is affiliated with the national AAP but is a separate 501-c-3 not-for-profit organization.

We support the national AAP agenda for children and work on children's initiatives that are specific to Pennsylvania.

Members of the national AAP are automatically eligible for membership in the PA Chapter; chapter dues are separate from national AAP dues.

If you are not a member of the national AAP but would like to be a member of the PA Chapter, please go to the Membership page for more information.

The Pennsylvania Medical Program (PA MHP) is a medical home quality improvement program based on the Educating Physicians In their Communities (EPIC) model, and housed at the PA Chapter, the American Academy of Pediatrics.

On the website, you will find local Dr. offices that are Medical Homes.

What is a Medical Home?

The medical home is an organizational setting that integrates preventive services, acute illness management, and chronic condition management.

An effective medical home seeks to identify the broad spectrum of a child and family’s needs at a given point in time (including preventive care and psychosocial items), as well as to anticipate and design care to address future needs.

The medical home coordinates among agencies and services in the child’s community (termed “horizontal coordination”) and within the health care system (“vertical coordination”) to address current health needs.

It also provides continuity over time to address future health needs; care in a medical home spans childhood through adolescence and facilitates a smooth transition to adult services.

The medical home fosters competence in patients and families as its key strategy to achieve positive results.