The Intersection of Medical Child Abuse and Medical Complexity.

Children with medical complexity and victims of medical child abuse may have similar clinical presentations. Atypical or unexplained signs and symptoms due to rare diseases may lead providers to suspect medical child abuse when not present. Conversely, medical child abuse may be the cause of or coexist with medical complexity.

A tertiary care-primary care partnership model for medically complex and fragile children and youth with special health care needs.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a tertiary care center special needs program that partners with families and primary care physicians to ensure seamless inpatient and outpatient care and assist in providing medical homes.

Design: Up to 3 years of preenrollment and postenrollment data were compared for patients in the special needs program from July 1, 2002, through June 30, 2005.

Setting: A tertiary care center pediatric hospital and medical school serving urban and rural patients.