Medical Homes in Connecticut
This page is designed to keep you informed about events and activities happening in Connecticut that will help improve access to medical homes for children with special health care needs (CSHCN).

Medical Home Initiatives
This section provides information on state medical home initiatives/programs. States that are a part of the mentorship network will have a "Promise to the State" which outlines how they will achieve ensuring that all children have a medical home by 2010. This is based on the Healthy People 2010 goals which is a 10 year action plan to achieve and measure success for all CSHCN.

Connecticut Medical Home Team Contact:

Name: Robin Tousey-Ayers
Contact: Phone: 860-509-7391 | Fax: 860-509-7669
Email: robin.tousey-ayers@po.state.ct.us
State Team Roster available at: www.medicalhomeinfo.org/model/downloads/State Teams/Connecticut Medical Home Team.doc
Web site: www.dph.state.ct.us/BCH/Family Health/cyshcn/cyshcn-medical home site.htm

The Medical Home System of Carein Connecticut - Presentation
Learn about what is a medical home, CT’s 8 current medical homes, regional support through Children & Youth with Special Health Care Needs Centers, the CT Medical Home Academy, and steps for the future.

Medical Home and Connecticut’s New Community-Based System of Care for Children & Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN)
Fact Sheet
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are Connecticut’s Medical Homes and CYSHCN Centers?
Medical Home Support Resources

Abstract
Background
Goals/Objectives
Project Description
Outcomes

Connecticut was selected to be part of the National NICHQ Medical Home Learning Collaborative - A fifteen-month collaborative activity to improve care for the growing population of CSHCN. This initiative focuses on 3 practices in the state and assists them in completing a quality improvement process to provide medical homes to their patients with special needs. It also assists in building the capacity of Connecticut's CSHCN and other health department programs to support and extend this approach after the completion of the project period. For more information you can go to the project overview at http://www.nichq.org/

To learn more about this project and other medical home intiatives go to: www.medicalhomeinfo.org/states/state /connecticut.html

Related Grant Initiatives
This section provides information on current state grants that are working on medical home initiatives. This includes the grant abstract as well as key contacts for the grant.

Early Childhood Partners (ECP) - Abstract
Steering Committee Co-Chairs:
Martha Okafor, Department of Public Health (860) 509-8066
Liz Brown, Commission on Children (860) 240-0042
Program Description: The Connecticut Department of Public Health has received federal funding to plan for the implementation of a comprehensive, integrated early childhood system that affords young children in all families optimal health and readiness to learn by age five. The initiative is called the Early Childhood Partners Initiative and the proposed planning phase is a two-year period ending September 2005.

Connecticut ECP System Logic Model - Program/Systems Diagram
Goal: The EC System is integrated, comprehensive and works for young children and families

Partners in the State
This section provides information on who in the state (individuals and agencies) are working together to create medical homes for children.

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Chapter: users.rcn.com/ctaap/main.html

American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Chapter: www.ctafp.org/

Connecticut Children with Special Health Care Needs (Title V) Program Web Site:
Yale Center for Children with Special Health Care Needs

Title V Block Grant to States
Title V of the Social Security Act is one of the largest Federal block grant programs. It leads the nation in ensuring the health of all mothers, infants, children, adolescents, and children with special health care needs (CSHCN). Title V is administered by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) as part of the Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Title V and Children with Special Health Care Needs
MCHB Objective: Support development and implementation of comprehensive, culturally competent, coordinated systems of care for the estimated 18 million U.S. children who have or are at risk for chronic physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional conditions and who also require health and related services of a type or amount beyond that required by children generally.

Early Hearing Detection & Intervention (EHDI) Contact(s)
State EHDI programs promote universal newborn hearing screening, develop effective tracking and follow-up as a part of the public health system, promote appropriate and timely diagnosis of the hearing loss, prompt enrollment in appropriate Early Intervention, ensure a medical home for all newborns and
strive to eliminate geographic and financial barriers to service access.

Name: Donna C. Maselli, RN, MPH
Contact: Phone: 860-509-8081 | Fax: 860 509-8132 | E-mail: donna.maselli@po.state.ct.us

Birth to Three System - Early Intervention/Part C Coordinator:
The Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C of IDEA) is a federal grant program that assists states in operating a comprehensive statewide program of early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities, ages birth through age 2 years, and their families.

Name: Linda Goodman
Contact: Phone: (860) 418-6147| Fax: (860) 418-6003 | Email: linda.goodman@po.state.ct.us
Web Site: www.birth23.org/

Section 619/Special Education for ages 3-5 Coordinators:
This program provides free appropriate public education (FAPE) for children, ages 3 through 5 years, with disabilities:

Name: Maria Synodi
Contact: Phone: (860) 807-2054 | Fax: (860) 807-2062 | Email: maria.synodi@po.state.ct.us
Web Site: www.state.ct.us/sde/deps/early/PreschoolSE/index.htm

State Interagency Coordinating Council (ICC) Chairs:
The ICC advises appropriate agencies on the unmet needs in early childhood special education and early intervention programs for children with disabilities, assists in the development and implementation of policies that constitute a statewide system, and assists all appropriate agencies in achieving full participation, coordination, and cooperation for implementation of statewide system.

Name: Laurel Ross, Acting ICC Chair
Contact: Phone: (203) 629-1880 X132 | Fax: (203) 629-4390
Email: ross@arcgreenwich.org
Web site: www.ectac.org/contact/iccchair.asp#CT

Resources
State Waiver Information: www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicaidStWaivProgDemoPGI/08_WavMap.asp
Waivers are the result of a process that allows state Medicaid agencies to apply for and receive permission from HCFA to provide services not otherwise covered by Medicaid and/or to do so in ways not described by the Social Security Act. Most Medicaid managed care programs require Waivers. The Waivers, which can differ greatly, are known by their numbers (1115, 1119), or as home-and community-based, or as Katie Beckett Waivers.

Educational Initiatives
This section provides information on training initiatives on the medical home. Some states will discuss their outreach projects in relation to physicians, families, and the community.

REGISTER NOW!!
Service/Care Coordination National Conference
October 27- 29, 2005

The training will focus on the dissemination of model outcomes and practices as identified through the past five years of research activities at the center. The National Conference is sponsored by the Research and Training Center in Service Coordination at the University of Connecticut and A.J. Pappanikou Center (CT UCEDD) and the Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs. Co-Sponsors include: Virgin Islands UCEDD; Indiana Institute on Disability and Community (UCEDD); and the Early Childhood Research Institute at the Utah State University Center for Persons with Disabilities (UCEDD).

Medical Home Legislative Forum - Mar. 9, 2005
The Medical Home Forum was planned and co-sponsored by the University of Connecticut Center on Disabilities, as well as the Connecticut Department of Public Health and the Connecticut Commission on Children. The forum was held on 3/9/05 and addressed the topic of medical home models and how research can benefit Connecticut.

Medical Home Training Academy - March 8, 2005
A Medical Home Academy (MHA) was presented on March 8, 2005 at the Hartford Marriott in Rocky Hill, CT, in collaboration with the Child Health & Development Institute of Connecticut, University of Connecticut Health Center and Eastern Area Health Education Center. This continuing education program is designed to educate pediatricians, family physicians, other health care providers, family representatives, child health advocates, hospital ambulatory care for families, community health centers, school-based health centers, insurance administrators, government officials, and any other group of individuals that work with children and youth. Over 100 individuals participated in this inaugural event.

The MHA is part of an continuing effort to establish a quality ongoing primary care practice improvement training system for pediatric and adolescent health care providers in order to improve the holistic and comprehensive health of children, youth and including those with special health care needs. The MHA presented the practical and effective practice improvement methodology that is needed to enhance primary care for children and their families/caregivers in Connecticut.

Existing national and statewide curriculum were modified into Connecticut-specific training modules to first be delivered in the one-day conference. Additional sessions will be offered in a variety of formats including pediatric office in-service trainings, Grand Rounds, CD’s, and video & audiotapes. For more information and to view the presentations from the Academy go to: www.dph.state.ct.us/BCH/Family Health/cyshcn/cyshcn-medical home site.htm.

Screening Initiatives
This section provides information on surveillance and screening initiatives in the state.

Developmental Surveillance and Screening Policy Implementation Project (D-PIP)
Charter Oak Health Center at Connecticut Children's Medical Center from Hartford, CT and Hospital of Saint Raphael Pediatric Primary Care Center of New Haven, CT are participating in the Developmental Surveillance and Screening Policy Implementation Project (D-PIP). The D-PIP has selected 17 practices from across the United States to implement the AAP policy statement (scheduled for publication in July 2006) “Identifying Infants and Young Children with Developmental Disorders in the Medical Home: An Algorithm for Developmental Surveillance and Screening” to 1) determine if the algorithm is efficiently and effectively implemented into pediatric practice; 2) recognize strategies for implementing the algorithm; and 3) examine outcomes of implementation. Following the project, information and outcomes will be shared with pediatric clinicians and other health care professionals who are seeking to improve the delivery of developmental surveillance and screening.

Additional information on the D-PIP is available at: www.medicalhomeinfo.org/screening/DPIP.html

State Newborn Screening & Genetics Programs: genes-r-us.uthscsa.edu/resources.htm

• State Newborn Screening Program Links
• State Genetics Program Links
• Regional Genetics and Newborn Screening Collaborative Links
• Newborn Screening State Contact Fact Sheet

Family Corner

Resource Guides and Information for Families
Assistive Technology Resource Directory - 2001: www.ctserc.org/rfi/ATdirectory.pdf

Early Hearing Detection & Intervention (EHDI) Information for Parents:
Description of EHDI Program | Babies Referred from Screening | Babies Diagnosed with Hearing Loss
www.medicalhomeinfo.org/screening/State/connecticut.html

Family Village: www.familyvillage.wisc.edu/index.htmlxx
A global community that integrates information, resources, and communication opportunities on the Internet for persons with cognitive and other disabilities, for their families, and for those that provide them services and support. This site offers informational resources on specific diagnoses, communication connections, adaptive products and technology,adaptive recreational activities, education, worship, health issues, disability-related media and literature, and much, much more!

Respite: "Get Creative About Respite"
A Parent's Guide to Respite
Includes information on Managing stress, Do you need respite care? Types of respite care, How to find a respite provider, Informal community supports, Selecting a respite provider, and How to Prepare for respite. Available at: www.dph.state.ct.us/Publications/BCH/Family Health/respite_parent_guide.PDF

A Child/Adolescent Guide for Families and Caregivers
The purpose of this notebook is to provide information to families and car givers on how and what to communicate with respite providers. Sections included in the notebook:Basic respite information, Emergency Information, My home, My medicine, My health, My day, Things I many need help with, My story. Available at: www.dph.state.ct.us/Publications/BCH/Family Health/respite_child_guide.PDF

For more information about the manuals, respite, or to schedule a respite training contact:
Ann Gionet - Department of Public Health 1-860-509-8081

Programs
Birth to Three: www.birth23.org/
The mission of the Birth to Three System is to strengthen the capacity of families to meet the developmental and health-related needs of their infants and toddlers who have delays or disabilities.
To talk to someone about your concerns, call the Birth to Three INFOLINE. TDD accessible. Phone: 1-800-505-7000 | 860-571-7556 (outside Connecticut)

Special Education Resource Center (SERC): www.ctserc.org/
Professional Development and Information Resources for Connecticut's Educators and the Families They Serve Home


Advocacy and Support Organizations
Family Voices: www.familyvoices.org/st/CT.htm
Partnering with professionals and families to advocate for health care services that are family-centered, community-based, comprehensive, coordinated and culturally competent.

NAMI of Connecticut (National Voice of Mental Illness): www.namict.org/
Education, advocacy and support for persons with brain disorders (mental illnesses) and their families.

State Resources on the Internet: www.medicalhomeinfo.org/states/index.html#res

Note: The information provided on the state pages was submitted by the state medical home teams.As this is not an exhaustive list, please let us know if you have additions for your state resource page. You can contact us at: medical home@aap.org.

http://www.medicalhomeinfo.org/states/state /connecticut.html

Last Updated August 15, 2006