Multidisciplinary Clinic Eases Medical Journey for Children with Complex Care Needs

In April 2025, the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center launched a specialized multidisciplinary clinic for children with medically complex health conditions who require care from multiple medical specialists.

“The children we see in our clinics are complex which may include technology dependent children (i.e. ventilators, feeding pumps etc), wheel chair bound, autistic children, patients with cognitive impairment, or have genetic syndromes. These complex patients often require treatment from multiple medical specialists,” said Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital pediatric emergency medicine and pediatric pulmonology specialist Donna Lee, M.D. “Many of our families live far from our hospital and can’t access the level of care they need closer to home. Families often travel far for care and require medical transportation to come for care. Coordinating multiple visits and medical transportation can be cumbersome bordering on daunting. If a patient needs multiple visits, parents often will need time off from work thus further increasing stress surrounding medical care.

According to Dr. Lee, some families may need to skip necessary follow-up appointments due to logistical challenges. By combining multiple appointments into a single visit, the team hopes to make the medical journey easier for families of children with complex care needs.

“Our clinic brings together pediatric gastroenterology, neurology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, developmental pediatrics, pain management and palliative care, and pulmonology experts — and we hope to soon expand to include cardiology,” said Dr. Lee. “Our patients can have one, three-hour appointment where they meet with four, five, or six subspecialists, so they can receive the follow-up care they need.”

Since the launch of this multidisciplinary clinic, Dr. Lee said there has been such demand for the clinic’s services that the team will expand clinic hours from one half-day a month to one full day. The clinic will also relocate to a larger facility in Paramus to better accommodate wheelchairs, stretchers, and other medical equipment.

“We may not be able to cure these patients’ physical problems, but by providing convenient, compassionate care, we can make an impact on their social and psychological well-being and reduce stress for the entire family. This clinic truly defines family centered compassionate care for our most vulnerable population,” said Dr. Lee.

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