Illustration by Daniella Young
Transition from Pediatric to Adult Health Care
As you get older, your rights and responsibilities related to health care change. As a young adult, you are more likely to manage your own appointments and medications, for instance. You will also want to ensure you have age-appropriate health care providers. As you begin to assume more responsibility for your own health care, you can certainly still ask others for help. In fact, doing so when needed is an important part of the transition to adulthood.
Download the Transition from Pediatric to Adult Health Care Presentation
PEDIATRIC VS. ADULT HEALTH CARE
You might be wondering, what exactly is the difference between pediatric and adult health care? While physicians can provide basic care to all people, pediatricians are specially trained to care for infants, children and teens. As a result, they are less familiar with and experienced treating medical conditions that happen more commonly in adults. Also, a pediatric practice is oriented towards growth and development, while an adult practice focuses more on health maintenance and well-being.
REQUESTING ACCOMMODATIONS AND SUPPORTS
If you need an accommodation for your disability in the health care setting, you should inform your provider about how best to assist you. An example might be if you will need help transferring from your wheelchair onto an exam table. If you need special equipment (for example, a lower exam table, Hoyer lift or wheelchair scale) you may want to share this when choosing a provider, in order to find out what equipment they already have and assess general accessibility. Even if they do not have all of the equipment or services you need, they should communicate with you about providing assistance and accommodations. How effective they are at communicating with you about these issues may impact which health care provider you prefer to use.
TRANSFERRING RECORDS
Once you have an adult health care provider, you will also need to transfer your records. You can start by asking your new provider if they have authorization documents for you to fill out or send to your former doctor or other health providers. Also ask if they need copies of any diagnostic images (e.g., mammogram, CT, MRI) or hospital records.
You may want to use this opportunity to request copies of your medical record for yourself as well. There are some differences when it comes to psychiatric, psychological or psychotherapeutic records, though. When these are requested by the patient or their legal representative, the provider may send a report of examination and treatment instead of copies of records.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) entitles you to receive copies of your medical records, whether they’re held by health care providers or your insurance company. Under this law, providers cannot deny your request for records. They also cannot charge you for having to locate and retrieve your records. Florida law allows a healthcare provider to charge no more than the actual cost of copying of records, which may include reasonable staff time or an amount designated by the regulatory board. These fees vary from provider to provider.
Because there may be a significant wait time to receive or transfer your records, it’s best to request your record in advance.
It is important to note that you are considered a legal adult at age 18 and thus are legally responsible for your own healthcare. This means that parents and caregivers cannot access your medical information or stay with you during doctor’s visit unless you agree. Finally, an important component to managing your own health care is health insurance, which is addressed in the next section of this guide.