Support Services
Spend a few hours in the classroom. Make the difference of a lifetime.
At PHS, we work together – as partners in caring for children and adults – to develop a safe plan of care through clinical education and technical support. Our Education Service department provides the best “education experience” possible for families, health professionals, and PHS staff who are taking care of the child.
The PHS educational experience is provided through:
- Classroom instruction
- Tailor-made patient (teaching) handbooks
- Training materials
- One-to-one mentoring
- Competency testing
- Community outreach events
We offer a wide variety of respiratory and infusion classes to help allied health professionals continually improve the way they use equipment and perform techniques/treatments to ensure safe care for all their patients. We design our classes around the most current Standards of Practice and provide hands on learning. We believe that the more experience a person has with the skills and equipment today’s medically fragile child requires, the better care they can provide.
Our approach to education is to provide a friendly and open learning environment. We know that the more skilled and safe a person is with a piece of equipment or procedure, the better care and service a patient can experience.
For more information on classes and instructors, please go to the Continuing Education page.
Nutrition is important for all infants, children and adolescents; however, when the child has other special medical needs, optimal nutrition is paramount. PHS’ Registered Dietitians understand the nutritional needs of pediatric patients and screen each incoming patient for nutritional risk. Patients who are placed at moderate and high nutrition risk are then contacted to offer follow up services.
Our dietitians work hand in hand with PHS customer service representatives, pharmacists, infusion nurses, respiratory staff, and operations providing advice and assistance when needed on a variety of topics including formula, g-tubes and feeding pumps. They also work closely with the hospital dietitians to assure continuity of care for the patients transition from hospital to home after discharge.
Taking care of medically–fragile children sometimes means supporting their emotional and social needs. PHS’ Medical Social Worker is there to assist families managing the many psychosocial issues related to living with an acute or chronic health condition.
Services include:
- Community resource planning/referrals
- Collaboration and consultation with medical team
- Emotional and social support and counseling
- Crisis intervention
- Short term therapeutic interventions, such as Play Therapy
When is it necessary to involve PHS’ Medical Social Worker?
- If there is a need for resources such as:
- Transportation
- Housing
- Furniture
- Financial Assistance
- Clothing
- Telephone
- Other resources or support services
- If there are vulnerability issues such as:
- Abuse or neglect
- Mental/physical/emotional status of the caregiver
- Lack of adequate supervision
- Unstable living situation
Discharge
PHS Medical Social Worker attends discharge conferences, meets with the family and ensures they understand how the PHS Medical Social Worker might help.
Post-Discharge
When ordered by a physician, the PHS Medical Social Worker follows-up with family to assist with the resolution of issues related to care (see list above) and remains involved with home visits as needed.
When complex therapies, equipment or supplies are required or desired in the home, PHS clinicians collaborate with our customer support services; customer service representatives, billing specialists, warehouse staff and equipment technicians. Working with the patient’s physician and family, these team members are all involved in our patient’s journey from hospital to home. From insurance verification, to equipment and supply fulfillment and product delivery, this team does whatever’s needed to take care of the child.
- Customer Service
- Our admissions team works closely with our families and referral sources during the intake process. A seamless transition home is ensured by verifying insurance, obtaining prior authorization, when applicable, and securing the equipment and products required for discharge.
- Supply ordering is simple and flexible. Families have two options for ordering supplies; some families choose to call PHS as supplies are needed. Others prefer to take advantage of our convenient Call Out Program and receive a call from a dedicated patient service representatives on a predetermined day and time. These call outs are scheduled according to our patients' supply needs and dramatically decrease the possibility of running out of supplies.
- Equipment and Supplies
- Equipment Requisition
- Our New Equipment Integration Process (NEIP) team meets on an on-going basis to evaluate new equipment and supplies. This team consists of PHS clinicians, educators and equipment technicians ensuring that new products safely meet the needs of our patient population.
- Equipment Processing Center (EPC)
- All equipment, new or used, is inspected by our electronic technicians and must meet both manufacturers’ specifications and PHS’ quality and safety standards.
- In 2002, PHS started requiring all equipment technicians they hired to have technical degrees and certifications; most recently, one technician received the title of Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician.
- Supply Order Fulfillment
- Our on-site warehouse is stocked with over 3,500 products. Additionally we special order non-stock products to meet unique patient needs.
- Third Party Billing
- Our billing specialists work closely with families to answer their questions about coverage and to assist them whenever possible with payment plans and medical assistance.
- Having first hand knowledge of the complex, and ever changing needs of our unique patient population, our billing specialists are able to work with our clinicians and payers to obtain reimbursement for their medically necessary supplies and services.
