Complex Care Program

The Arkansas Children’s Complex Care Program (formerly known as the Medical Home Program) provides compassionate, specialized care for infants and children with special health care needs.  Our dedicated team is passionate about working with medically complex patients and families!

We seek to deliver comprehensive care coordination and therapies to maximize health and wellness while striving to reduce unnecessary hospital/ER visits. Through a focus on family-centered care, our team is dedicated to providing assistance to families as they navigate our health care system, both at Arkansas Children's and in their local communities.  

Helping Children Reach Their Full Potential

Our mission is simple: provide the optimal quality of family-centered care for children with medical complexity.

We seek to ensure that every child and family will receive all necessary medical, nutritional, psychosocial, and developmental care while fostering partnerships with caregivers and community providers so children will reach their full potential.

Would Your Child Benefit from the Complex Care Program?

The following questions may assist in determining if your child would benefit from the Complex Care Program at Arkansas Children’s:

• Would it be helpful to work with a multidisciplinary care model, including the physician, nursing, social work, nutrition, psychology and speech?
• Do you feel confused by the information you receive from your child’s care team?
• Do you need help negotiating the healthcare system and connecting to community resources?
• Do you need help with the nutrition and developmental needs of your medically complex child?
• Would coordination of available community-based care needs, such as access to appropriate therapy or home modifications, be helpful?
• Would it help to have a written care plan to share with your child’s primary care provider?
• Would you benefit from ongoing care coordination between visits including communication with family, primary care providers and specialists?

For More Information about Complex Care Services

If you answered yes to any of these questions, contact our Complex Care Program team to better understand our services or to schedule an appointment for your child. Your local doctor can also refer you to us by calling 501-364-3030.

If language barriers are a concern, our team provides complex care visits and support for Spanish-speaking families.

Children with medical complexity typically have multiple chronic medical diagnoses or concerns. Sometimes they have a unifying diagnosis, but often they may not. At Arkansas Children’s, we designed the Complex Care Program to address the needs of children who:

• Have at least two medically complex conditions and are followed by at least two pediatric subspecialists
• Are dependent on special medical technology such as G-tube or other tube feedings, oxygen or other respiratory support
• Are born with extremely low birth weight or congenital anomalies and or syndromes.
• Have chronic neurodevelopmental disabilities

Frequently children with medical complexity have developmental concerns such as developmental delay, intellectual disability, or neurological issues such as seizures or difficulty walking or talking.

Possible Conditions

• Bronchopulmonary dysplasia
• Cerebral palsy
• Complications of prematurity
• Congenital diaphragmatic hernia
• Congenital differences or birth defects
• Craniofacial differences such as cleft lip and palate
• Genetic syndromes
• Hypotonia
• Mitochondrial disease
• Muscular dystrophies
• Neurodevelopmental disabilities
• Neurodegenerative diseases
• Respiratory system anomalies
• Severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy with significant neurological damage
• Short gut syndrome

Contact Information

For more information about our complex care services or to make an appointment with one of our complex care pediatric specialists at Arkansas Children’s, please call 501-364-3030 or email Annmarie Neal, BN, RN, CPN, at neala@archildrens.org. Our team has the expertise and experience needed to optimize care for your child’s complex clinical issues or conditions.

Your local doctor can refer you to us by faxing the Complex Care referral form to 501-364-3484.

Children with complex medical conditions generally have multiple diagnoses and may require treatment from a wide range of providers. In addition, they may need support from service organizations over an extended period of time. At Arkansas Children’s in Little Rock, Arkansas, we create a multidisciplinary team approach with our comprehensive range of services and specialties to provide excellence for outpatient care with ongoing support for patients and their families.

Coordination across the Continuity of Care

Our coordination of care begins with the creation of an Individual Health Plan (IHP) that identifies comprehensive medical and developmental needs. This plan is provided to the family and serves as a comprehensive care plan addressing your child’s specific needs. At each visit, our team updates the IHP, and shares with all care team members. We can also provide the plan and updates to other community physicians. Between visits, our team is available to assist with care coordination and appointment scheduling.

By serving as a centralized point of contact in both outpatient settings, the complex care team streamlines communications among specialists, primary care physicians, home care agencies, educational institutions and primary caregivers. We also provide connections with community-based resources such as home care companies, schools, daycare, state agencies, and families to maximize the quality of life for children with special health care needs.

Possible Treatments

The complex care team at Arkansas Children’s works closely with families, caregivers and community providers to coordinate care and provide personalized treatment services. This includes:

• Development of a comprehensive care plan
• Creating an individualized nutrition plan and feeding schedule
• Addressing oral and texture aversion issues
• Monitoring growth and development
• Identification, enrollment and monitoring of progress in development therapies
• Ongoing psychological and social support
• Arranging home health care and respite care

Clinical Trials

Scientific advances made through clinical research and clinical trials offer new hope to patients and their families. At Arkansas Children’s, we work diligently to conduct high-quality research that improves the health and well-being of children.

Zika Virus Surveillance Project

The Complex Care Program at Arkansas Children’s is currently working in a collaborative effort with the Arkansas Health Department and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Center for Birth Defects in response to the CDC's requirements that states have a response plan for the Zika virus. As part of this effort, the Complex Care Program will see children born to mothers who tested positive for Zika during pregnancy for follow up care and surveillance during the first year of life. Children who are believed to have been affected by the Zika virus should be referred to the Arkansas Children's Complex Care Program.

Complex Care Program resources help families understand the specialized care needed for infants and children with special health care needs.

• The ARC of Arkansas
• Arkansas Children's Injury Prevention Center
• Arkansas DDS Children’s Services
• Arkansas Easter Seals
• Arkansas First Connections (Part C- Early Interventions) Arkansas Infant and Toddler Program for children birth to 3
• Arkansas Lifespan Respite
• ICAN of Arkansas
• Medical Home, Arkansas
• Miracle League of Arkansas
• Partners for Inclusive Communities
• Playground Accessibility - Community-edited guide to accessible playgrounds  
• Respite Care – List of respite providers in your area by zip code
• Special Needs Resource Project (SNRP)