Child Health System 3.0

I had the opportunity to see a presentation this morning at Cincinnati Children's Hospital by Dr. Neal Halfon, Director of the Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities of Los Angeles, California. His topic, "Transforming the U.S. Child Health System: Moving from 2.0 to 3.0," dealt with the evolution of this system, the influence of environmental and other risk factors on child development, and what a more effective system might look like.



















Source: Neal Halfon, UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities

Some of the things he called for were:

-An integrated and comprehensive approach - new strategic partnerships and broadbanding of services
-Greater flexibility of services and improved coordination at the local level
-Increased community and consumer participation
-More focus on prevention, health promotion, and early intervention
-Focus on Outcomes

In addition to these, there were other themes common to Strive that he also touched on– creating efficiencies with what already exists, promoting better information and communications systems to track child outcomes, and thinking of child health care outside the walls of the pediatrician’s office–and better networking of these supporting services.

In particular, the promotion of better information and communication systems can be a catalyst for systems transformation. This is something that Strive is focused on locally in pushing for better education data systems, and it would seem all the better to look for ways to integrate education with health.