This post is the first in a series dedicated to Health Care Transition. Don’t forget to review additional posts specifically for parents & caregivers, teens & young adults, and medical providers.
For a printable version of this information, please click here.
What is Health Care Transition?
Health care transition is the process of graduating from pediatric medical providers to adult medical providers. The process should be a years-long endeavor, with the patient, parents/guardians, pediatric providers, and adult providers all working together to ensure the patient’s success in managing their own health care.
Who is on a Patient’s Health Care Transition Team?
A patient’s Transition Team should consist of their parents or guardians, pediatric medical provider, and adult medical provider. Additional persons or providers of importance may also participate. Each team member will have responsibilities in different phases of the transition process, ultimately led by the patient.
When Does Health Care Transition Start?
Transitioning to adult medical care is a years-long endeavor specific to an individual patient’s needs, abilities, and development. While there is no “hard exit” from pediatric medicine in terms of an individual’s age, no one can see a pediatrician forever. Many pediatricians begin discussing transition with their early teenage patients, with the goal of moving them to adult medical care between the ages of 18-21.
How Does Health Care Transition Start?
Ideally, the process is initiated by the pediatric medical provider, supported by the parents or guardians, and encouraged by all team members. Additionally, parents or guardians can begin the transition process at home by involving their child in health care matters (scheduling appointments, picking up prescriptions, reviewing health care bills, etc.).
Why is Health Care Transition Important?
Children and teens deserve bodily autonomy, privacy, and access to information about their health. Children and teens need the knowledge to manage their health and time to practice the associated skills. The U.S. health system is complex and continually changing; no one can be expected to just jump right in.
What Roadblocks Exist During Health Care Transition?
Like many health care related processes, the largest roadblock to successful health care transition is the knowledge it exists. Additionally, health care transition can become quite stressful when one or more of the team members are not “on board.”
Privacy and access can also become points of contention in the health care transition process. It is imperative that all members of the transition team are informed of their State’s laws governing health care privacy and information access for minors and their parents/guardians.
How Can a Health Advocate Support the Health Care Transition Process?
When a patient and family work with a health advocate during a Health Care Transition period, they are provided with an additional layer of support and guidance. Advocates capture the larger picture of health care transition, assist with planning tasks to accomplish the patient’s goals, and provide a neutral party to work through concerns and speedbumps. Health care transition is often a dance of autonomy, knowledge, and access between a young patient and their parents or guardians. An advocate is the perfect person to navigate the dance floor.
Health Care Transition Resources
Got Transition
Got Transition is the national resource center on health care transition. Its aim is to improve the transition from pediatric to adult health care for clinicians, public health programs, youth and young adults, and parents and caregivers.
Dr. Hina Talib, Adolescent Medicine Specialist
Dr. Talib is better know as the Teen Health Doc, and helps parents better understand their teens. She practices adolescent medicine in New York and provides free resources and advice on her Instagram channel.
American Medical Association Code of Ethics Confidential Health Care for Minors
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: HIPAA & Minors
For a printable version of this information, please click here.
This post is the first in a series dedicated to Health Care Transition. Don’t forget to review additional posts specifically for parents & caregivers, teens & young adults, and medical providers.
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