Pediatric Services
Support Services — making a difference in the lives of PHS families
We offer wide range of support services for children with special medical needs.
To provide support for the special needs of medically-fragile children, PHS offers a variety of support services for health professionals, children, and their families.
Education for professionals and families
A few hours in the classroom can make the difference of a lifetime. The more skilled and safe a person is with a piece of equipment or a therapy, the better the care they can provide. At PHS, we develop a safe plan of care though clinical education and technical support, and we provide a variety of educational tools to help the families, health professionals, and PHS staff who are taking care of children with special needs.
These tools include:
- Respiratory and infusion classroom instruction based on the most current Standards of Practice
- Teaching handbooks tailor-made for a child’s needs
- Clearly written instructions on using equipment and medicine
- One-on-one caregiver training in the home or in the hospital immediately before discharge
- Competency testing for professionals
Specialized nutrition services, designed for kids
Nutrition is of special importance for the successful growth and development of children with special needs. Our Registered Dietitians provide nutritional assessments and follow-up for patients in need of nutritional monitoring and intervention due to medical conditions or treatments compromising optimal nutrition.
Our dietitians work hand-in-hand with PHS pharmacists, infusion nurses, and respiratory staff to provide advice and assistance on a variety of topics including formula, feeding tubes, and feeding pumps. The dietitians also work closely with health care professionals outside of PHS to ensure continuity of care for patients moving from hospital to home.
Commonly asked questions include:
Medical social work
Taking care of children with special needs sometimes includes supporting a family’s emotional and social needs. Our medical social worker helps families manage the many issues related to acute or chronic health conditions.
A PHS medical social worker may attend care conferences and meet with the family to ensure they understand how we can help. When ordered by a physician, our medical social worker will follow up and assist with any unresolved issues related to care and stay involved with home visits as long as needed.
Commonly asked questions include:
Customer support
PHS clinicians work with our customer service team, billing specialists, warehouse staff and equipment technicians – as well as the patient’s doctor and family – to ensure a smooth move from hospital to home
Customer service:
An admissions team works closely with families and referral sources during the PHS intake process to ensure uninterrupted service. Taking home a special needs child: how we help.
Third party billing:
PHS billing specialists work closely with families to answer their questions about insurance coverage and assist them whenever possible with payment plans and Medical Assistance. Paying for a special needs child: how we help.
Equipment and supplies:
Home medical equipment today is increasingly more specialized and sophisticated, as are the skills and processes needed to maintain the equipment. All equipment technicians in our Biomedical Department are required to have technical degrees and certifications, plus we have Certified Biomedical Equipment Technicians on staff.
- A PHS team of clinicians, educators, and equipment technicians ensures all the products we provide safely meet the needs of our patient population.
- All equipment, new or used, is inspected by our certified electronic technicians and meets both manufacturers’ specifications and PHS quality and safety standards.
- The PHS on-site warehouse is stocked with more than 35,000 products. We also special order non-stock products to meet unique patient needs. Product and DME needs: how we help.
Additional Information
- Education
- Tips for parents bringing home a special needs child
- Medical conditions that often require infusion therapy and pharmacy services
Our clients say:
"I would like to take time from the everyday crazy life we live and say we are very thankful for PHS and its staff! Whether it is the nurses who come to our house, phone calls regarding questions we may have or that PHS has for us, ordering supplies or getting lab results sent to us, they are always top notch. Hats off to the PHS staff for the wonderful services they provide. Thank you!"
Maria R.
