Division of Complex and Palliative Care

How is our Complex and Palliative Program delivery model unique?

Simply put, we follow the patient.

Pediatric Palliative care should be offered across the illness continuum. The Pediatric Palliative Program at UT Health San Antonio and University Health System is a fully integrated model that provides continuity of care throughout the life of a child as medical needs and location of services change. Our model aims to provide not just good end of life care, but also excellent family and child centered care throughout life. While most health care systems, even those with palliative programs, require a child to change medical teams as disease changes or progresses, we have the unique ability to follow the child in various care locations.

We have one program with multiple service lines:

• The University Health Comprehensive Care Clinic (CCC) delivers outpatient pediatric primary care and outpatient palliative care for children with medical fragility.
• The University Hospital Inpatient Pediatric Palliative Care Team provides services across the entire spectrum of disease including: pediatric palliative care, inpatient care for established comprehensive care clinic patients and care at the time of transition for medically complex AYA patients.
• The University Hospital Perinatal Palliative Care Team provides prenatal consults with pregnant mothers at the time of trigger diagnoses, helps develop birthing plans, attend trigger diagnosis births, follows the baby and family if survives birth and provides bereavement support. Our Perinatal Palliative Program has one of the highest volumes in the country.
• We partner with Vitas Hospice to provide high quality, in home, pediatric hospice care at end of life.
• Our palliative physician faculty cross cover all three services truly facilitating continuity of care along the patient journey whether the child lives for days or years and spends time in the home, the clinic or the hospital.