This poster on the Snangamon HEART network's successful efforts to use IRIS to increase pediatrician partnerships with home visiting services was presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference, held from September 27 to October 1, 2024.

Abstract

The Sangamon Home Visiting Education and Referral Team (Sangamon HEART), a collaborative led by the Department of Pediatrics at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIUSOM), has worked to improve outcomes for children aged 0-3 by supporting effective early childhood home visiting (HV) programs. In the three years since they launched their IRIS network, the Sangamon HEART IRIS community has flourished. By forming a collaborative with HV and other early childhood service agencies and creating an order in the electronic medical record to assist pediatricians in facilitating HV and other social service referrals, they found that utilization of IRIS referrals advocated by medical partners increased over 350% since 2021. Pediatricians not only became increasingly aware of HV and the benefits for early childhood and beyond, but now routinely refer to HV partners with ease of communication between agencies.