Health Supervision

Anticipatory Guidance: Introduction

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Health education, including anticipatory guidance, is a required EPSDT component to be presented and documented at each preventive health visit.

Learning what families already know and what they do to promote health provides opportunities to personalize the anticipatory guidance, clear up misconceptions, offer new information, and reinforce healthy habits.

  • Health education, including anticipatory guidance, is a required EPSDT component to be presented and documented at each preventive health visit.
  • Broad categories for anticipatory guidance include: sleep positioning (0-6 months), injury prevention, violence prevention, and nutrition counseling.
  • See Suggested Age Appropriate Topics for Anticipatory Guidance (PDFs):
    0-1 month | 2-4 months | 6-9 months | 12-18 months | 2-5 years | 6-10 years | 11-21 years.
  • Document: record that anticipatory guidance was provided and that educational handouts and/or plan was reviewed with patient/parent. Ensure that patient/parent verbalizes understanding.

The Value of Anticipatory Guidance

  • Helps families understand what to expect in their child’s or teen's current and approaching stages of development.
  • Provides information about healthful lifestyles and habits as well as injury and illness prevention.
  • Reinforces the importance of the family in the health partnership.
  • Supports the development of positive and effective relationships with families, children, and teens.
  • Can be supplemented with handouts and family materials.
Effective
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  • Healthy and safe habits
  • Injury and illness prevention
  • Nutrition
  • Oral health
  • Mental health
  • Sexuality
  • Social competence
  • Substance use and abuse prevention
  • Responsibility
  • School or vocational achievements
  • Family
  • Parental health
  • Community

Suggested health topics and age-appropriate guidance are available on the Specific Visits page.

Guidance should include advice about when to schedule the child’s next visit according to the DC Medicaid HealthCheck Periodicity Schedule.

Documenting Health Education and Anticipatory Guidance

  • Health education, including anticipatory guidance, is a required EPSDT component to be presented and documented at each preventive health visit.
  • Broad categories for anticipatory guidance include: sleep positioning (0-6 months), injury prevention, violence prevention, and nutrition counseling.
  • See Suggested Age Appropriate Topics for Anticipatory Guidance (PDFs):
    0-1 month | 2-4 months | 6-9 months | 12-18 months | 2-5 years | 6-10 years | 11-21 years.
  • Document: record that anticipatory guidance was provided and that educational handouts and/or plan was reviewed with patient/parent. Ensure that patient/parent verbalizes understanding.

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