June 2011

Welcome to the first issue of The Portal Periodical , the Medical Home Portal newsletter. Editions will be published quarterly to keep you informed of Portal-related news and updates of interest. Your feedback is always wanted! You can reach us at info@medicalhomeportal.org.

The Portal received a nice write-up earlier this year in the European reseach magazine "International Innovation" published an article about Dr. Norlin and the Medical Home Portal. Check it out here (page 35): Resource Revolution - International Innovation.

The authors, reviews and editors at the Medical Home Portal have been busy this year. We've added 5 Diagnosis modules, 5 Technology Reviews and 3 Screening and Prevention pages, and have several more in the works. Current content is also reviewed and updated regularly.

You can stay in-the-know about and give us ideas for new content by "liking" us on the Medical Home Portal Facebook page!

In the next year, we plan to add the following to the Medical Home Portal:

• A more streamlined format for Diagnosis module pages, to reduce duplication and be more intuitive
• Diagnosis Frequently Asked Questions and Answers, for clinicians and families
• A new Family page in each full Diagnosis module, with condition-specific clinical information families need
• More pages in the Families & Patients section

Did you get our spring survey? You can still complete it: Medical Home Portal Survey of Utah Pediatricians. We want to better understand the way you use the internet to get information relevant to your patients with special healthcare needs.

Do you use the Portal? If not, why? Would someone else in your office be the right person to know and use the Portal? Let us know. Click on our Feedback link and tell us what you'd like to see us add to the Medical Home Portal website.

In partnership with the Medical Home Portal, the Utah Bureau of Children with Special Health Care Needs (UDHHS) also welcomes you to the first issue of The Portal Periodical . The CSHCN Bureau provides support for the establishment and maintenance of medical homes in Utah. The "Your Medical Home" section of The Portal Periodical will be a regular feature where we will offer information, tools, and resources to help you improve your medical home.

As you know from the About Medical Home page, medical homes strive to provide family-centered care. Parent partners are key members of the medical home team. They attend meetings along with the other team members to set priorities, plan improvements, implement changes, and monitor the effects of those changes in office processes. Parents bring a different and valuable perspective to those processes.

There are many different roles that parent partners may play as part of the medical home team. Finding and recruiting a parent partner are some of the first steps in exploring the possibilities for improving the medical home for all families. Some medical homes utilize their parent partners in a support role, available to be contacted by other families. Parent partners often understand the day-to-day challenges of interacting with medical specialists, allied health providers, schools, insurance providers, and other community services. This understanding helps some families feel more comfortable in approaching the parent partners, rather than the doctor or nurse, when they have questions about resources or are facing difficult family situations.

For support, information, or tools to help improve your medical home, please send us a message through the Portal Feedback page.