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.

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

• 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

Documenting Health Education and Anticipatory Guidance

Thoroughly document all aspects of the health education and anticipatory guidance using the Standard Medical Record Form (SMRF) (link opens in new window).

Specific Areas of Note in Filling Out the SMRF (from SMRF training):

Anticipatory guidance provided should be reviewed with patient/guardian and “topics discussed and/or handout given” should be marked.

Read more about Documentation Required for Compliance with HealthCheck (link opens in new window).

(Note: this image is taken from the back of SMRF #7: 11 to 21 year old visits; forms for other age ranges may differ slightly).