Comprehensive Care for Children with Chronic Disabilities

Children with significant learning or motor-related disabilities are valued members of families and participate in activities through school and the community, but they also face a host of health problems throughout their lives. Often, parents struggle with managing their child’s care and seeing the many specialists required to meet their child’s complex needs.

The Center for Comprehensive Care at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, is designed to help children and young adults with severe disabilities navigate care. Our goal is to ease the stress on families and address the major health, educational and psychosocial needs of children in the outpatient setting and during hospital stays.

Collaboration to Maximize Function and Quality of Life

Our multidisciplinary team provides a full continuum of inpatient and outpatient services to help maximize pediatric patients’ function and quality of life. Members of the care team include:

• Pediatricians who specialize in neurodevelopmental disabilities
• Nurse practitioners
• Nurse coordinators
• Dietitians
• Social workers

Holistic Approach to Care

The staff at the Center for Comprehensive Care treats all patients with compassion and empathy and sees beyond their disabilities. The team evaluates individual patients and their unique needs, consulting with other health care providers as needed and developing personalized treatment plans, and will work to streamline the transition of care to adult providers as the child gets older.

Rainbow Care Connection

The Center for Comprehensive Care is partially supported through a grant from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital.

Through the grant, UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital created UH Rainbow Care Connection, which provides additional services and care integration for eligible families. Eligibility for participation in this program is discussed with each family. Families who receive these services are required to complete surveys to monitor satisfaction and family function.

Learn More

For more information about the Center for Comprehensive Care, please call 440-914-7840.

This material was supported by Funding Opportunity Number CMS-1C1-12-0001 from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. Contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Department of Health and Human Services or any of its agencies.