What is a Medical Home?

When your child is sick, taking them to the emergency room or an urgent clinic may seem like the fastest or easiest option. However, visiting your family doctor or pediatrician will serve them best in the long run.

When you use one pediatrician as the primary provider for your child they become your child’s medical home — and that improves the overall access to and quality of care they receive throughout those all-too-important development years.

“When your primary physician —your pediatrician or family care doctor —serves as a medical home, they become experts in your child’s health and medical history,” Dr. Tanya Fitts said. “Medical homes ensure a patient-centric, comprehensive approach to care.”

Creating this history with one physician has several important benefits. First, it means they are building a relationship and trust with their doctor, which ensures the child feels more comfortable with the doctor. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, this helps to improve the quality and efficiency of care patients receive.

“I still have patients that come to see me after they’ve turned 18 because they trust me, they feel comfortable with me,” Dr. Fitts said. “So, when they have an appointment right before or right after they start college, they might come to see me before they make that final transition away from a pediatrician.”

Second, for patients that have chronic issues or major illnesses, having a medical home can help make treatment plans easier to manage. That’s because your primary care team is responsible for coordinating all of your healthcare needs.

“We will work with the specialists —including mental health providers —that provide care to your child,” Dr. Fitts said. “We’ll make referrals, help to set up appointments and testing, and will bring providers together to diagnosis illnesses and build treatment plans.”

At Lafayette Pediatric Clinic, we want to be your child’s medical home. To learn more or make an appointment, please contact our clinic.