Health Care Transition (HCT) is the shift from pediatric care to adult care. Becoming an adult can be an exciting but stressful time full of many changes and switching to a new health care team might seem difficult.
As patients develop from teenagers into young adults and take on more responsibilities, it is important to learn about the HCT process. As children, parent(s) or guardian(s) were usually the decision makers when it came to health care needs. As teenagers, they will face more independent decisions in their health care and are allowed by law to seek some services confidentially, or privately. The diagram below will help give patients and their families an idea of what to expect when they fully transition out of pediatric medicine to adult medicine and adult behavioral health care.
Please refer to UF Health’s Transition Policy at: https://ufhealth.org/conditions-and- treatments/transition-from-pediatric-to-adult-care/resources for additional helpful information regarding Health Care Transition.