Pediatric Palliative and Hospice Care
Pediatric Palliative care (pronounced pal-lee-uh-tiv) is specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness. Palliative care focuses on relieving the illness’s symptoms and stress. The goal is to improve the child’s and family’s quality of life.
Florida offers four types of pediatric palliative services. These include Hospice, Concurrent Care, Partners In Care: Together for Kids (PIC:TFK), and Home Health.
Hospice services are available for patients with a terminal illness certified by a primary care physician (6 months or less prognosis). Both hospitals and hospices offer palliative care programs in limited capacities. For a full list of services, click on this Map (Florida Children’s Hospitals and Partners In Care Together for Kids Medicaid Palliative Care programs).
Concurrent care is for Medicaid recipients only, also with a terminal illness certified by a primary care physician (6 months or less prognosis). Visit the NHPCO Resource Page for Families for a better understanding of pediatric concurrent care.
Partners In Care: Together for Kids (PIC:TFK) is a special program for children with a serious illness. Partners in Care: Together for Kids (PIC:TFK) helps your child and family get special care and keep up your quality of life. PIC:TFK’s experts have the tools to provide the care, comfort, and support your family needs. They work with your child’s healthcare provider and CMS Health Plan. PIC:TFK services are provided by specially trained providers. These providers have experience with palliative care and children. While your child is treated by a hospice provider, they are not a hospice patient. Enrollment in PIC:TFK is voluntary. Your child’s CMS Health Plan Care Manager is available to help you. To qualify, your child must be: Enrolled in CMS Health Plan, Diagnosed with a serious condition, & Live in an area with a PIC:TFK provider. Visit the Florida Department of Health PIC:TFK website for more information.
Additional PIC:TFK Resources
Home health is available for patients who are homebound or have a condition that makes leaving the home difficult.
To compare these four categories of services, please click here for the Comparison Chart of Pediatric Services in Florida where services from eligibility to referrals to billing are covered in all of the above four types of pediatric palliative services.