The "Health Passport" will help to improve the health care of foster children, a situation whose shortcomings are well documented and are the subject of Federal and state legislation. To date, most Passports have been paper records provided to the foster parents to take to the next provider to serve the child. A simple, computer-based Passport, developed by Children's Hospital and San Diego County, will be extended in content, form, and function. This Passport is intended to use modem database technology. Relational database techniques and networking will energize the system, creating powerful reporting capabilities, enhanced user access, and increased decision-making support for medical and mental health problems. We will create a national model that reflects inputs from a diverse, highly-experienced advisory committee. The system will incorporate fast-prototyping characteristics and will undergo an extensive process of dynamic interaction with users.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:This system could be used to advantage by 400 to 600 of the agencies serving the approximately half million foster children in the U. S.. We will disseminate the system nationally and support it on a continuing basis. This does not imply a very large development of new business but rather a logical, commercial basis for a small business to solve and support what is currently an orphan problem.National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
