How to Coordinate Care with Multiple Providers

My son receives therapy through school. He goes to private therapy twice a week. He has a hospital occupational therapist who helps us with bracing. He has a regular pediatrician, a neurologist, and an orthopedist. He has almost 10 people who work with him. However, we realized the other day that none of them talk to each other.

That’s a problem on a couple of levels. In the grand scheme of things, everyone is working to make sure my son is as good as he possibly can be. But with different focuses and priorities, it can result in people stepping over each other.

For example, my son’s school therapy is focusing on using Picture Exchange Communication (PECS) cards for communication. Meanwhile, my son’s private therapy is focused on assistive technology. That means that two different people are teaching my son two different ways to do the same thing. This is like teaching him that both French and English should be his primary languages.

That had to change, especially as my son gets older and we start focusing in on the things that work well for him.

So here is our approach:

• We signed every information release we could. We asked his teachers for the forms to sign so they could get and share information with the doctors and therapists. Now, if we don’t know the answer to a question, everyone can talk to each other legally.
• We have started email threads titled “OTs”, “PTs”, “Speech”, with the required service providers. All are copied so they can all talk to each other. We asked their permission first, so now when we email one, they all see it.
• We’ve started Google Drive accounts for all my son’s documentation. All our care providers can get access so everyone has the same information.

These are just a few steps we took to make sure everyone is on the same page. It was something we hadn’t thought about. I must do everything I can to make sure everyone is moving in the same direction, and provide the best care for my son.

If your child has multiple providers, they may benefit from a medical home model of care.