Below is a news release on the AAP president’s address to be given at the 2009 National Conference and Exhibition (NCE) of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). David T. Tayloe, Jr., MD, FAAP, president of the AAP, will speak at the plenary session from 10:30 to 11 a.m. (ET), Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.

For Release: Saturday, Oct. 17
10:30 a.m. (ET)

WASHINGTON, DC – David T. Tayloe, Jr., MD, FAAP, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), will address attendees on Oct. 17, 2009, at the AAP National Conference and Exhibition (NCE) in Washington, DC. Dr. Tayloe will discuss health care reform, the AAP’s Agenda for Children, and the importance of every child having a medical home.

Every child deserves a medical home – compassionate, high-quality, family-centered health care. The AAP has been at the forefront of initiatives to promote the family-centered medical home concept and how pediatricians can be fairly paid for their medical home efforts. Especially now, in a sluggish economy slow to rebound, the medical home model provides the best health care using limited resources.

Knowing that children have unique health needs, the medical home concept is based on four principles:

• Family-centered partnership – working together with families, knowing they are the stability in a child’s life
• Community-based system – a coordinated network of community-based services intended to promote the development and well being of children
• Transitions – optimize appropriate health care services as a child grows from adolescence to adulthood
• Value – appropriate financing is needed to support and sustain a quality medical home

“The AAP is working with our nation’s leaders to put children’s health care reform at the top of their list, and we must continue efforts at the federal and state levels to bring the medical home concept to life for all children. There are opportunities within health care reform to improve the insurance payment system so that all pediatricians can be proactive in their medical home efforts,” Dr. Tayloe said.

“Thanks to the Child Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), most pediatricians will be eligible for government assistance to incorporate information technology into their practices so health records can be shared with the medical home “team” that often includes pediatric subspecialists, other health professionals, and supporting agencies.”

“These changes won’t happen overnight, but I’m confident we have taken the right steps to provide a solid foundation for the type of health care system our children and their families deserve.”

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 60,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.