The Medical Home Project: Connecting Families to a Medical Home: A Growing Success Story
The Cincinnati Children’s Medical Home Project was launched to help families connect with a primary care provider (PCP) in their own community. It all started when we looked at data from our Emergency Departments (ED) and Urgent Care sites. Over the course of a year, we found that more than 10,000 children who sought care didn’t have a PCP listed. Even more eye-opening: nearly half were repeat visits, and 26% had commercial insurance.
Having a Medical Home is essential for children’s health—it ensures continuity of care, helps prevent avoidable illnesses, and supports overall wellness.
What’s Happened So Far?
Since launching earlier this year, the project has grown significantly:
100+ community practices (Pediatrics, Family Medicine, and IM/Peds) are now part of a growing list of practices that are accepting new patients.
The practice list has been downloaded over 500 times internally to help connect families with care.
We plan to review ED data again soon to see if fewer families are arriving without a PCP.
Real Impact: A Story from the Front Lines
One of our Hospital Medicine physicians recently shared this powerful story:
“I was on service last week and cared for a child hospitalized with a severe infection—something that might have been prevented with regular primary and dental care. The family spoke Spanish and didn’t have insurance or a PCP. Using the ‘Find a PCP’ resource, we found a provider who could meet their needs and scheduled a follow-up appointment before discharge. It felt great to send the child home with a solid care plan in place!”
What’s Next?
To keep our information up to date, we’ll continue sending out practice surveys every 6 months—look out for the next one in September/October!