Office of Special Healthcare Needs

About the Programs

The Need
The PPEP was developed as a pilot project to assist and support pediatric primary care practices in providing care to children with special healthcare needs and their families within a “medical home”.

Pediatricians have reported that the time they dedicate to direct patient care has been impacted by increasing administrative activities. The impacts were even greater for physicians caring for children with special healthcare needs who require more time to coordinate necessary services.

The Project
The PPEP was developed in 2003 to assist and support pediatric primary and specialty care practices in providing improved short and long-term health outcomes for children with special healthcare needs and their families within a medical home. The Project places and supports trained Parent Consultants in clinical settings to link families with community resources, assist physicians and families in accessing specialty services, and identify systems barriers to coordinated care.

The primary role of the Parent Consultant is to create linkages between the family, pediatric practice, and the community as a whole.

Oversight and monitoring of the PPEP is a collaborative effort between the Rhode Island Department of Health, the Rhode Island Department of Human Services, Neighborhood Health Plan of RI, and the Rhode Island Parent Information Network (including Family Voices) with the Department of Health as the lead agency.

Project Goals
The goal of the PPEP is to maintain the “medical home” model of care by fostering partnerships among families, pediatric practices, and available community resources (including CEDARR)

Goals:

• Provide coordinated and comprehensive care to children with special healthcare needs.
• Improve awareness and communication with community resources.
• Provide ongoing, comprehensive, and coordinated care for families of children with special healthcare needs
• Recognize families of children with special healthcare needs as critical decision makers
• Increase understanding of the healthcare delivery system and access to community resources

HEALTH Information Line
1-800-942-7434