Transition to Adult Care

Transitioning to an adult care neurologist can be a challenging time. It is important to discuss with your neurologist whether you are ready for this transition. In some situations, this can occur at the age of 18; however, in many cases, we delay transition until the age of 20 or 21; in order to provide continued support during the start of college or a job. Transitioning to adult care may also depend on your insurance coverage and/or location.

• Discuss with your child’s neurologist the right time to transition to adult care
  
• Start planning at least one year in advance
  
• Some neurologists on the Mass General Brigham team, including Tanuja Chitnis, MD, see both children and adults, in different clinic settings.
  
• Young adults should become familiar with making appointments and start to take ownership in this process
  
• Young adults should become familiar with ordering and renewing their medications and start to take ownership in this process
  
• There are different support systems in adult clinics—it is important to consider the type of ongoing support needed
  

Transition to the Adult Care MS Center at Mass General Brigham

There are several MS/neuroimmunology specialists who care for transition patients at Mass General Brigham:

• Tanuja Chitnis, MD
  
• Tamara Bockow Kaplan, MD
  
• Shamik Bhattacharrya, MD
  

To register at Mass General Brigham:

1. Please call toll free 1-866-489-4056 to obtain a Mass General Brigham medical record number.
2. Please call 617-525-6550 to schedule an appointment at the Mass General Brigham Multiple Sclerosis Center with either Dr. Tanuja Chitnis or Dr. Shamik Bhattacharrya. Please mention that you are an MGH transition patient.

We would suggest doing this before the official transition appointment at Mass General for Children so that your child’s electronic medical record is ready to be exported to Mass General Brigham prior to their first adult appointment.