If your child is followed by multiple specialists and has complex medical needs like technology dependence or chronic disease with social, developmental or behavioral concerns, you may find it difficult to keep up with and coordinate all of their care. That's why Tufts Medical Center has launched the Pediatric Complex Care Program (PCCP) to support you and your family throughout your healthcare journey.
For more information, call the PCCP at 617.636.9501.
Q: Why is the PCCP an important part of a child’s care?
A: The PCCP serves children here at Tufts Medical Center and partners with families, primary care physicians and sub-specialists to provide comprehensive and coordinated care for children with complex medical conditions. We recognize that most of this care is provided in the outpatient setting. It also may involve many individuals and organizations outside of Tufts Medical Center, including home nursing, Early Intervention, school-based services, advocacy groups and other family supports.
As the Associate Medical Director of the program, I am fortunate to work with our highly qualified team, coordinating with other complex care team members, primary care physicians both at Tufts Medical Center and out in the community and subspecialty physicians to develop and provide care that is comprehensive and personalized to each child and family.
Q: Why did you become involved in the PCCP?
A: I became involved in the PCCP at Tufts Medical Center after seeing the struggles that families faced in balancing care for their child with other responsibilities. The difficulty primary care physicians face in coordinating care for children with complex medical issues motivated me to provide more family-centered care and to make this process easier for both families and physicians.
Q: What makes care for children with medical complexity special at Tufts Medical Center?
A: Tufts Medical Center is a special and very unique place for children to receive their medical care. Our small size lends itself to providing more tailored care for our patients, better communication and collaboration between our teams and ancillary staff that contribute to children’s care. All of our staff members (including physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, nutritionists and physical and occupational therapists) are incredibly dedicated to helping our patients and families learn about their child’s conditions, resources available in the community and how to best advocate for their child’s needs.
Q: How can the PCCP work with my primary care physician?
A: As a primary care physician myself, I recognize the challenges and the time requirement involved in coordinating medical care for children with medical complexity. The complex care program aims to be a resource for primary care physicians to help better coordinate care for children with medical complexity. For patients followed at Tufts Medical Center or by outside primary care physicians, our goal is to make care coordination easier and to supplement the great care that is already provided by a child’s primary care physician.
For families enrolled in our program, we provide a consistent point of access to Tufts Medical Center and help streamline communication between primary care and specialty physicians. In addition, if a patient already has established care with a multidisciplinary team in their medical home, we can work with this team to help supplement the services they are already receiving.
