The Children's Health Fund believes every child should receive health care in a medical home setting. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a medical home provides health care that is accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family centered, coordinated, compassionate and culturally effective.
The medical home ensures access to medical specialists, mental health professionals, and dental health services on a timely basis.
Following this model, CHF supports and develops programs that provide health care to poor and vulnerable populations that do not traditionally have access to quality health care in a medical home setting. To address the national perception of what constitutes quality health care, CHF advocates for recognition of the medical home model of health care.
Unfortunately, many barriers impede a child's access to a medical home. Health insurance is a first step to a child accessing a medical home however, health insurance alone still does not guarantee access to healthcare. Other barriers including lack of reliable transportation, the scarcity of physicians in many urban and rural areas, and cultural and linguistic differences pose a significant threat to achieving a medical home.
CHF addresses the most prominent barriers to care that face medically underserved communities including transportation issues, access to specialty care and cultural barriers.
