Guide to the Portal
On this Page
The Medical Home Portal aims to help families, physicians, and others find
reliable information and access valuable professional and community resources to
improve the care, health, and outcomes of children and youth with special health
care needs (CYSHCN). The Portal is unique in addressing primary care clinicians,
other professionals, and families and providing information about local service
providers and other resources.
To learn more about the Portal, check out the About the Medical Home Portal page. You can also
read A Short History of the Medical Home Portal. For a complete list of all
Portal pages, see the Site Map. This
page provides a technical overview of using the Medical Home Portal
site.
Navigating the Portal
Using the Nationwide and Partner States Portal Sites
The Portal’s content is written for a US-wide audience, with very
limited state-specific information. However, the Services Directories provide
information about “local” providers:
- The Nationwide site (www.medicalhomeportal.org) includes organizations that provide web-based services, maintain a nationwide network or finder service, or provide services remotely.
- The States sites (Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Utah) also include information, including links and service providers, specific to that state.
To go to a Portal partner state’s site, select it from the drop-down
at the upper left of any page. If you want to return to that state’s site
whenever you click a link to the Portal, click “Set __ as my home site” under
the state selection menu. You may need to clear your cache for this to
work.
We encourage states and regions interested in partnering with the
Portal to read the Partnering with the Portal page.
Understanding the Portal’s Menus
The blue horizontal top menu moves you between “tabs” of the Portal.
As you scroll down a page, that menu is replaced “breadcrumb trail,” allowing
you to jump to the top of the page or to a parent page.
In the Diagnoses & Conditions tab, the modules have left-hand
menus that allow you to navigate between content sections within the module. Use
the options at the top to collapse or expand section headings.
Other tabs of the Portal have a left-hand menu to navigate topics
within them. Click on a menu item to go to that page or use the arrow symbols to
collapse or expand the topic menus. For pages with three or more main sections
of content (like this one!), the top of the page has jump links to access those
sections within the page.
Search the Medical Home Portal
The Portal’s site search appears at the top of every page. Enter a
word or phrase to search for related content in the Portal. By default, Search
Results will include content from the entire Portal. You can also use the
filters above the results or under the title of each result to filter results by
tab. Search results have a “permalink” that reflects the search term, any
filters, and shows results for current Portal content. Bookmark the page or copy
the URL to save or share your search.
"How To Use the Portal" Videos
You'll find six short How To Use the Medical Home Portal Video Series on the Medical Home Portal YouTube Channel. They were created
in 2016, so some links and pages have changed since these videos were
created.
Diagnoses & Conditions Tab
Content under the Diagnoses & Conditions tab is primarily for physicians and other
clinical providers.
Modules
Staying current on knowledge, guidelines, and resources related to
uncommon or complex conditions is very challenging for providers. The Portal
provides focused information about the primary care of children with these
conditions and help with addressing related medical and social needs. All Portal
Diagnoses & Conditions modules are written and reviewed by experts. Modules
are reviewed regularly, typically every two to three years or after a major
change to practice guidelines.
The modules follow a similar format and the left-side menu can be used
to move between headings. Every module has the same set of topic sections and
sub-sections, although not all modules contain every sub-section. For example,
the module on Cerebral Palsy
includes a sub-section about Complementary and Alternative Medicine, while the
module on Spinal Muscular Atrophy
includes a sub-section about Dental care, and both include a sub-section about
Respiratory concerns.
At the bottom of each module is a list of relevant service categories
for that condition, with links to providers in that state’s Services Directory. More information about when
different types of service providers might be helpful is also included in the
text. There are also a variety of other links and downloadable documents, which
may include practice guidelines, clinical tools, and patient education
tools.
Additional Pages in the Diagnoses & Conditions Tab
To see how many children with a specific diagnosis might be expected
in a primary care practice, go to the Diagnosis Prevalence List and enter the number of patients in your
practice. Prevalence figures in this list are sourced from a variety of studies
and may not reflect the population of your practice.
The Portal includes modules for 55 Diagnoses & Conditions and more
in development. You can also send us Feedback to suggest a diagnosis that you would like to see.
Newborn Disorders Tab
The Newborn Disorders tab is
written for primary care clinicians and their teams. It has information about
responding to abnormal results of 38 different newborn screening tests. These
include conditions tested for via a blood test (heel stick or blood spot), as well
as other tests (hearing, etc.). Each page includes a brief description, other names
for the condition, codes, symptoms, first treatment steps, related services, and
where to find more information, including links to the Portal’s Diagnoses &
Conditions modules where available. Pages in this tab are written and reviewed by
specialists working with patients and are updated periodically or as
needed.
For Parents & Families Tab
The For Parents & Families tab content is written for families, caregivers, and other interested individuals
with or without medical training. It includes a wide range of specific and general
information related to CYSCHN and their families. Where relevant, pages also include
links to related & relevant service categories and links to external sites and
PDFs from the Medical Home Portal and others. Make sure you are using your state’s
Portal site, if available, because some pages include local information and links
that display only on specific Portal sites. Pages in the For Parents & Families
tab are written and reviewed by medical experts, parent partners, and other
professionals.
Finding Information for Parents & Families
The pages in the For Parents & Families tab are organized into topics of
related-content, and sometimes into more specific sub-topics. Use the left-hand
menu to navigate between or within topics. Click the arrows to expand or
collapse page titles for a topic. Some of the largest topics are
After a Diagnosis or Problem is Identified, Education and Schools, and Navigating Transitions with Your Child. You can
also use the Search bar at the top of the page to search the whole Portal for
relevant information.
Diagnoses & Conditions - FAQs
The Diagnoses & Conditions - FAQs topic includes information about
the diagnoses and conditions found under the Diagnoses & Conditions tab of the Portal. This FAQs are
written for parents and structured as questions and answers with an emphasis on
those that might arise immediately or shortly after a diagnosis is made. Each of
these pages includes links to relevant categories of service providers,
including pediatric subspecialists and community resources, that might be
relevant in your child’s treatment for this diagnosis. These pages are written
by medical professionals and reviewed by parent partners and parents or
individuals with these diagnoses.
For Physicians & Professionals Tab
The For Physicians & Professionals tab is written primarily for a
professional audience, including clinicians and other professionals, such as care
coordinators and educators. This tab focuses on caring children and youth with
special health care needs in the “medical home” model. Pages under this tab are
organized into topics, such as Common Issues for CYSHCN, Education & Schools,
Feeding & Nutrition, Medical Technology, and Screening & Prevention. All
material is written and reviewed by experts working in these fields.
Services Directory Tab
The Services Directory on the
Portal’s Nationwide site provides information about organizations that offer
web-based services, provide services remotely or through a nationwide network, or
offer a provider finder service. The Portal also provides state-specific information
and directories of local service providers in our partner states. Information about
state services is entered and maintained by partner organizations in those states.
Within the Services Directories, services are organized into categories,
with service providers appearing in one or more relevant categories. These include
medical categories, community resources, and more. Within category pages, service
providers are listed by location, with Nationwide providers listed last. You can use
the links at the top of the page to access listings for your desired city or town.
We welcome you to browse by category, or use the search option at the top of the
Services Directory homepage to search by keyword, category, and location. Relevant
Service Categories are also listed on pages throughout the Portal, including
Diagnoses & Conditions modules,
Newborn Disorders pages, and
Diagnoses & Conditions - FAQs
pages.
We make every effort to keep the information in the directories up to date
and accurate. Most state Portal sites’ Service Directories also offer the option to
submit a new service provider or suggest an edit to a current service provider.
These edits are reviewed by the organizations maintaining the directories. If you
know of a new service, or an update to a service, we encourage you to submit the
service or change to the relevant state directory.
Other Resources Tab
The State Partner Projects tab has
relevant links and downloads, most of which are referenced on Portal pages. In this
tab you can search resources by type, including links to other websites,
Tools for the Practice for
providers, Patient Education resources,
and a Bibliography.
Still didn't find it?
The Medical Home Portal continues to grow and change, and we add to and
update the site as new information becomes available. Our team of medical
professionals, editors, family advocates, and programmers strives to keep the site
up to date and build new partnerships with expert authors and reviewers. We
encourage you to explore the Portal’s extensive content and then Contact us if you have questions or share your
Feedback!