Prevention. Promotion. Protection.

Specialty Clinics

Specialty clinics improve access to care for children in need of consultation, screening, and follow-up.  HCS brings medical specialists to regional centers to officer specialty care in or close to communities where children and their families reside.  Efforts are made to involve local health practitioners in these clinics to insure coordination or care.

Services and Delivery

Health Care Services offers the following specialty clinics:

  • Cleft Lip and Palate — Multidisciplinary, long-term, comprehensive, coordinated evaluations and treatment planning for children with craniofacial abnormalities
  • Neurodevelopmental — Screenings and consultations by a specialist in this field for children with neurodevelopmental conditions

Services are delivered by specialists from within the state and from the Children’s Hospital at Providence in Anchorage and itinerant staff from the Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle, Washington.  These specialists offer screenings, recommendations for care, educational information, referrals as needed, and linkage to appropriate resources.  Specialty providers travel to clinic sites across the state where there are no local providers with specialty expertise.

Clinic Visits

Cleft Lip and Palate Clinics — Each year more than 100 children with clefts are seen by a multidisciplinary team of specialists at clinics in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Neurodevelopmental Clinics — Nearly 175 children are seen annually by neurodevelopmental pediatricians at clinics in Fairbanks and Juneau, with expansion to eight additional communities in FY10.

Specialty clinics are funded by federal Title V Block Grant monies.

Future Trends

As the private sector specialist field expands, the need for state sponsored specialty clinics in urban areas is expected to decrease. For more information about state sponsored neurodevelopmental and autism clinics, visit autism.alaska.gov.

Contact

For more information about state-sponsored Cleft Lip and Palate Clinics, please contact:

Meg Kurtagh
Alaska Division of Public Health
Women's, Children's and Family Health
4701 Business Park Blvd, Building J, Suite 20
Anchorage, Alaska 99503-7123
Phone: 907.269.3430
Fax: 907.269.3432

Send an e-mail message to the Cleft Lip and Palate clinic coordinator

For more information about state-sponsored Neurodevelopmental clinics, please contact:

Kris Green
Autism and Parent Services Manager
Alaska Division of Public Health
Women's, Children's and Family Health
4701 Business Park Blvd, Building J, Suite 20
Anchorage, Alaska 99503-7123
Phone: 907.269.3428
Fax: 907.269.3432

Send an e-mail message to the Neurodevelopmental clinic coordinator