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H H S Department of Health and Human Services
Health Resources and Services Administration
Maternal and Child Health

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Family/Professional Partnerships

The National Center for Family Professional Partnerships is a cooperative agreement funded as part of the Family-Professional Partnerships Program administered by the Integrated Services Branch, Division of Services for Children with Special Health Needs, which is part of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau. For more information, call (301) 443-2170.

The National Center for Family Professional Partnerships (NCFPP) provides leadership on implementing the core component of a system of care for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN), that: Families will partner in decision-making at all levels and will be satisfied with the services they receive. The goals of this center focus on:
 

  • facilitating peer support and technical assistance for Family-to-Family Health Information Centers (F2F HICs), the national Family Voices grassroots network, Kids as Self Advocates (KASA), and other family leaders and professionals to increase their capacity to assist and partner with families and professionals in their state, region and the nation;
  • advancing family professional partnerships through multiple learning and partnership activities; and
  • contributing to the evidence base for family professional partnerships.

This center provides a mechanism to link families of children with special health care needs to a broad national network of State Title V, Medicaid and Education programs, family and professional organizations, Family Voices State Affiliate Organizations and ACA funded Family to Family Health Information and Education Centers (F2F HICs). These programs receive technical assistance, information and tools on family decision making, including direct health care and health care policies. Collaboration has involved quality measurement activities with AHRQ on quality indicators on family/patient centered care, the Data Resource Center (National Survey for CSHCN), and the BPHC’s Office of Quality and Data on better integrating/documenting CSHCN and their families in FQHCs.

Activities

Assistance/Training provided by topic by NCFPP to F2F HICs, families, family leaders & professionals bar graph

Successes

  • The number of partnerships that the NCFPP has engaged in this year has increased to 48 from 42 last year, with additional substantive relationships around quality improvement pending.
  • Assisted KASA to finalize and release their Paraprofessional Toolkit: Working with a One-on-One Aide in School,
  • The NCFPP’s Family-Centered Care Self Assessment Tools are being used in educating other families, presentations to physicians, community clinics and medical professionals, and in collaboration with professional groups to initiative quality improvement activities and training of professionals. For example, In Hawaii, the F2F and the AAP Chapter will be part of a pilot where physicians will use the tool as a self-assessment, identify issues to work on over a nine-month period and develop quality improvement plans.
  • A highly successful activity of the past year has been the continuation of the Community of Learners, co-sponsored and co-facilitated with the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC). Family leaders from ten states have discussed and worked together on strategies, approaches and suggestions related to outreach to tribal communities, issues of bias and prejudice, understanding the needs of a community, challenges in preparing materials that are culturally sensitive, and ways to test materials for bias.
  • The finalization and implementation of the Salesforce database along with updating of FV Solutions, both customized to collect the required MCHB data, along with substantial technical assistance, has helped over half of the funded F2F HICs to comply more effectively with Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) data requirements, including those who did not have the basic data capacity for accurately collecting this data.

Resources

https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6739/t/11331/shop/shop.jsp?storefront_KEY=347 exit icon

The Family-Centered Care Self-Assessment Tools are designed as an opportunity for health care practices and families to assess current areas of strength and identify areas for growth, plan future efforts, and track progress toward family-centered care. This packet includes a Family Tool, a Provider Tool, and a Users Guide.

Growing Your Capacity to Engage Diverse Communities is a booklet about building relationships with community liaisons and cultural brokers to reach families of CYSHCN, particularly members of underserved groups.

Promoting Health and Wellness for Children with Special Health Care Needs is a booklet for families on guidelines, tips and resources on healthy eating, physical activity, and screen time.

An F2F HIC annual conference produced the notebook, Family-to-Family Health Information Centers Grantees Meeting: Sharing Activities, Ideas and Resources was created, with information solicited from each F2F about an important activity in their state, charts depicting information on initiatives, methods, partnerships, and funding of 

F2F HICs and links to other national centers and other resources:

Family-to-Family Health Information Centers Grantee Meeting: Sharing Activities, Ideas and Resources exit icon

2009-2010 Family-to-Family Health Information 2F HIC Data Report exit icon

A clinician with a mother and infant patient