Making the Case for Pediatric to Adult Health Care Transition

Steps to Build A Case

Building a case around the benefit of and need for HCT planning in special education can be an essential component for getting buy-in, interest, and ensuring sustainability. This case can be made to special education programs, school districts, and education leadership. Consider completing the steps below to make the case in your state.

Step 1. Assess HCT State and Jurisdiction Data

• The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) is a parent-reported survey that measures HCT preparation among youth with special health care needs, ages 12-17, annually.
• Click here and identify your state or jurisdiction's HCT performance from the National Survey of Children’s Health (2023-2024 is the most current survey data at the time of publication). Consider these questions:
  
  • How does your state compare to national data? 
  • How does your current data compare to prior years? 
  • Using the “edit search criteria” function on the website, select different subgroups to look at the data more closely. Looking at insurance, demographics, and other subgroup selections could better your understanding of what the data represents and which populations have the lowest receipt of HCT preparation.

Step 2. Making the Case Summary

• Using the data from Step 1, customize this one-pager template to fit and summarize your state or jurisdiction needs (the link provides a direct Word document download). Edit and modify the strategies at the bottom to reflect your goals and ideas. See State Strategies and Examples. 
• Engage family leaders or state/jurisdiction special education colleagues to review a draft of the summary before sharing widely.
• Use this summary as a tool to begin conversations, engage, and educate others about implementing HCT into special education.
• See Appendix A for an example of a completed summary from Oregon.