Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) in the historical context of community pediatrics

Objectives. As part of the evaluation of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Community Access to Child Health (CATCH), to 1) identify, retrospect ively, the actual chronology of activities undertaken through CATCH, and 2) review its antecedents within the AAP, and its predecessor program-Healthy Children. Methods. Key informant telephone interviews with 14 national leaders in CAT CH were conducted. Relevant program and administrative files and other docu ments were reviewed. AAP staff assisted the authors in preparing a detailed chronology of Healthy Children and CATCH activities and events from spring 1988 through summer 1996. Results and Conclusions. A decade of change in the AAP, under the acronym C ATCH began in the late 1980s. The formation of the AAP's Partnership for Ch ildren and the Access to Care for Children Initiative, combined with the de cision by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to transfer the funding of Hea lthy Children to the AAP, underpinned the changes. The Foundation's decisio n provided the resources and stimulus for the expansion and increased recog nition of Community Pediatrics at the national AAP office, culminating in t he establishment of the Department of Community Pediatrics in mid-1994. A n ational program of pediatrician-led, community-based programs and supportiv e services was launched, other resources were attracted, and a philosophica l shift in defining the role of the pediatrician was put forward. A respons ibility toward all children within the community was included in the role o f the pediatrician, as well as caring for the individual child within a com munity context.