Dr. Donald Miller, a pediatrician in Oceanside, Calif., tries to go the extra mile for patients and their families by providing them with a medical home.

Some aspects are as simple as offering evening and weekend appointments and creating a flexible scheduling policy that allows patients to be seen on the same day for acute illnesses. But at the community health clinics where he works, they also try to offer a broad range of services. For example, they bring in other providers to offer lactation consults and nutrition counseling in the office.

"It does create a sense that this is a home," said Dr. Miller, president of the San Diego chapter of the American Academy of ...