Comparing Patterns for Transitioning the Care of Young Adults with Sickle Cell Disease Versus Hemophilia: The Toronto Experience

The Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) in Toronto, Canada cares for more than 700 children with sickle cell disease (SCD), which is the largest Canadian population of children with SCD. Since 2009, the SCD Program at HSC has partnered with adult hematologists within the Red Blood Cell Disorders program at Toronto General Hospital (TGH) to develop a coordinated strategy for transitioning the care of young adults with SCD. Hemophilia is a chronic hematological condition which, like SCD, has a spectrum of disease severity that requires multidisciplinary follow up. At HSC, we care for nearly 200 patients with hemophilia A and B and have a long-established partnership with adult hematologists, which has led to an effective transfer of patients with hemophilia into adult care. In Ontario, adult health providers are remunerated according to a fee-for-service billing schedule. In contrast, pediatric subspecialists are mainly salaried under an alternate funding plan. Until 2010, adult hematologists who provided medical care for individuals with hemophilia received a significantly higher pay scale than those who cared for individuals with SCD. This was changed in July 2010 so that adult hematologists receive commensurate remuneration for services rendered for both hemophilia- and SCD-related medical care.

1. To compare the patterns for transitioning patients of varying disease severity within the pediatric and adult SCD and hemophilia programs in Toronto, Ontario.

2. To identify barriers and enablers that have influenced the transition of young adults with SCD within a universal health care system.

Data for active, transitioned and inactive patients in the HSC and TGH clinical programs are maintained in a database at HSC. These patient numbers were gathered according to sickle cell genotype. Similar data were available for hemophilia patients who were transitioned from HSC to adult care. Chi-square analyses were used to compare the proportions of patients in the sickle cell and hemophilia programs that were transitioned between 2009 and 2011.

The HSC-TGH- partnership has significantly reduced the number of youth with SCD who continue to be followed at HSC or are lost to follow up. However, a significant number of young adults within the HSC SCD program still need to be transitioned to adult care. For the sustainable expansion of this transitional care strategy, health policymakers must collaborate with tertiary and community level health care providers to develop a coordinated and distributed strategy for the effective delivery of comprehensive health care services for young adults with SCD.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.