What to expect before your child’s visit

Whether you travel across town or across the country to reach the Center for Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), our clinical team is prepared to support you every step of the way, making sure you have all the resources you need to care for your child.

Making an appointment

The Center for Pediatric IBD is known for its quick and easy scheduling process. If your child has been diagnosed with IBD or is suspected to have IBD, you or your provider may contact the Center for Pediatric IBD at 215-590-PIBD (7423) or online via our contact form.

An experienced program administrator will gather your initial information and arrange to receive your child’s medical records from your referring provider.

Before your appointment

Before scheduling your child’s in-person clinic visit, we will complete a quick telephone intake with you. A welcome packet, including a parent summary and consent form, will be emailed or mailed to you and must be completed prior to scheduling your child’s in-person appointment. This will provide our team with the detailed medical information we need to get to know your child and help us understand their medical history and what brings you to CHOP for an appointment.

We have a dedicated program administrator and nurse who are here to assist you every step of the way and will help you through the scheduling process.

Once we receive the completed forms, we will review your child’s medical records, contact you to schedule your child’s in-person appointment, and discuss next steps as they relate to your child’s visit at CHOP. This review process is quick and will not delay scheduling your appointment.

Based on a review of your child’s medical records by our second opinion nurse navigator, we may suggest that your child see additional specialists or undergo more diagnostic testing while you are at CHOP. These suggestions may extend your child’s length of stay in Philadelphia, and we will work with you to plan accordingly. There are many options for you and your family to stay locally, and we will discuss these options with you.

Insurance authorization and referrals

We will work with our financial clearance team to ensure you are aware of your insurance coverage and any costs related to your child’s appointments at CHOP.

If your insurance company requires a referral before your child can be seen at CHOP, please contact your child’s primary care provider. Your provider will need to know:

• The date of your child’s upcoming visit at CHOP,
• CHOP provider numbers (which our program administrator can give you), and
• The CHOP location where your child will be seen.

All referrals must be in place at the time of your child’s appointment at CHOP, or the visit may be delayed or rescheduled.

Our team is experienced in working with many insurance plans to ease care for families who seek our services. We are always happy to discuss individual situations and connect you with CHOP financial counselors if helpful.

In the event your insurance plan does not participate with CHOP, we will work with our financial clearance team and your family to obtain insurance authorizations if necessary.

What to expect on the day of your child’s visit

Your child’s visit will take place in person at CHOP. The IBD Clinic is located within the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition on the 6th floor of the Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care, located at 3500 Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA, on the Raymond G. Perelman Campus.

Parking and check-in

Proceed down Civic Center Boulevard and turn left at Osler Circle onto the Buerger Center plaza. Immediately turn right into the underground parking garage. There is a cost associated with parking in the Buerger garage, and your ticket may be validated during check-in on the 6th floor.

When you arrive for your IBD clinic visit, you will check in at the welcome desk in the Buerger Center lobby where you will receive a visitor badge. We encourage you to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment time to allow enough time to park and get checked in.

You will then be directed to the 6th floor where you will check in with the medical team at a self-check-in kiosk or with one of our patient service representatives. The waiting room has interactive activities to entertain your child while you wait. There is also a small cafe available on the first floor of the Buerger Center.

Schedule

We recommend bringing a snack and water, as well as something to keep your child occupied, such as books, toys or electronics, during the visit. Please plan to spend a few hours at CHOP, as the visit may include examinations by several different specialists, based on your child’s needs.

The IBD clinical team may include gastroenterologists, fellow physicians, advanced practice providers and dietitians, and you may also meet with nurses, psychologists and social workers. The IBD team will work together, and in consultation with your family, to create a treatment plan for your child designed to improve both their disease course and quality of life.

In addition to a physical exam and complete health history, your child’s evaluation with our Center may include recommendations for additional procedures or testing, such as a colonoscopy, endoscopy or an imaging test like an ultrasound. These studies help us evaluate your child’s digestive tract – both to diagnose IBD and determine the current state of your child’s disease.

These procedures are performed in the Kohl’s GI Nutrition and Diagnostic Center at CHOP, where our team of gastroenterologists, anesthesiologists and nurses performs thousands of complex and routine endoscopic diagnostic procedures each year. Gastroenterologists throughout the country often send infants and children with challenging GI issues to CHOP for advanced diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and imaging.

What to expect after your child’s visit

After your child’s examination at CHOP, we will provide our recommendations to your child’s local care team and are happy to collaborate with your family and your child’s primary GI provider as needed on recommendations for IBD clinical care. If you travel to CHOP from a distance or will continue your child’s primary GI care locally, we encourage your family to continue to contact your local care team for medical needs. 

Supportive, family-centered care

In addition to our clinical team, CHOP’s Center for Pediatric IBD has a dedicated clinical psychologist focused on providing emotional support and counseling to families with children diagnosed with IBD. There are unique challenges children face when diagnosed with IBD at a young age.

Our dedicated IBD social worker provides extra support services to your child and family. This support is available to you throughout your child’s entire experience at CHOP and includes our Peers Offering Practical Support (POPS) referral program, which allows you to connect one-on-one with another parent or guardian who has a child with IBD for non-clinical support to help you cope with your child’s diagnosis.

The Center for Pediatric IBD also offers monthly IBD education classes, where you can: 

• Hear from our multidisciplinary team about various aspects of your child’s IBD diagnosis and care
• Interact with other families who have children diagnosed with IBD
• Ask questions to IBD team members and clinical personnel

The class is offered virtually every first Wednesday of the month at 2:30 p.m. ET. To RSVP for future classes, please contact the Center for Pediatric IBD at 215-590-PIBD (7423) or email IBDcenter@chop.edu.