Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Within the Medical Home

Abstract

The pediatric medical home is a model to provide quality health care to a child that is coordinated and overseen by a team of professionals who are grounded in family-centered practice (Cleveland Clinic, 2012; Munoz, Nelson, Bradham, Hoffman, & Houston, 2011). The medical home can be a centralized, consolidated, and comprehensive approach to address concerns for a child and can bolster the early intervention goals of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention ([EHDI]; Buchino et al., 2019; Munoz, Shisler, Moeller, & White, 2009; Munoz et al., 2011). With early access to screening information for children who are D/deaf or hard of hearing, the medical home plays a role in early diagnostic services and follow-up care that are critical to EHDI. This connection allows for discussion of how the medical home can exist and be supported within the context of existing service provision systems as a potential preemptive intervention to address the needs of children and families. By reviewing publicly accessible materials, the state of Connecticut can be used as a case study to look at various methods of medical home engagement with the outcome of supporting EHDI-based benchmarks (Connecticut Department of Public Health, 2014, 2018). At the same time, a novel means of data collection through the medical home is proposed.