United Health Fund Offers Providers and Payers Strategies for Developing Integrated Family Care
NEW YORK, NEW YORK March 21, 2019—In a report released today, United Hospital Fund laid out strategies for clinicians and payers to improve children’s health by providing “integrated family care”—seamless, effective health care that addresses all a family’s health needs, including socio-economic factors that impact health.
The report, Plan and Provider Opportunities to Move Toward Integrated Family Health Care, presents a framework for health care providers and insurers to use primary care as a launching pad for ensuring that the health needs of all family members are met through integrated services. The report introduces the idea of “integrated family care” as a goal for the nation’s health care systems and payers and provides pragmatic recommendations for how health care can move toward that goal.
The “integrated family care” concept relies on a strong foundation of health insurance coverage, builds on delivery system transformation efforts toward patient and family-centered care, and leverages existing approaches like maternal depression screening during well-child visits.
“Many of the nation’s leading clinicians see the need to reduce fragmented care for families and have been pushing toward more integrated care in their own communities,” said Suzanne Brundage, report co-author and director of UHF’s Children’s Health Initiative. “The challenge, however, has been harnessing delivery system and payment transformation to support these ideas.”
It has long been recognized that family dynamics can influence the health of children in profound ways. Evidence also suggests the health of multiple generations of a family can be improved through family-focused interventions, especially those that integrate services that address the social, economic, and behavioral factors that can affect health...