Jackson Free Press

JACKSON — Children with special needs in the Jackson metro area will have a new option for community-based care due to the coordination between state agencies, private care and state agencies.

Pediatric Health Choice will run a new prescribed pediatric extended care center, or PECC, which will begin providing care to those 21-years-old and under this month. Medicaid recipients are eligible to participate in the program, and the new facility will serve about 30 kids—at least to start.

The new facility will provide medical care, education and socialization opportunities for kids who come through the program, which provides families with children with special needs the opportunity to establish daily routines. Instead of staying in pediatric hospitals indefinitely, kids get to go home to their families every night.

Jordan Starnes, a consultant for Pediatric Health Choice, said PPEC centers use a community-based approach to health care for children with special needs.

"A lot of these kids would live their whole lives in a pediatric hospital," Starnes said.

On the other hand, if the kids aren't in a hospital, they are likely at home, which can complicate work schedules for families. Kids can get picked up and dropped off at the Flowood facility.

"Anything where we can get the kids out of the home and get that burden off of the parents where they don't just have to work nights—this helps all of the family systems and the family units stay together," Starnes said.

In a media release, Deborah Fraze, the senior vice president of Pediatric Health Choice, said PPEC programs change kids' lives and maximize their potential.

"We don't focus on their limitations. Our goal is to move them along the continuum of health. These children deserve this care, and we are very passionate about providing special-needs children and their families with this opportunity," Fraze said in the release.

Pediatric Health Choice is allowed to operate the facility due to a piece of 2012 legislation, Senate Bill 2700, that passed through the Legislature with unanimous support. Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, originally authored the bill, which defined licensing standards for PPEC facilities, in coordination with the state health department, as well as authorized Medicaid reimbursements for such facilities.

Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, supported the bill on the House side during the 2012 session.

"This service fills a void we had in our continuum of care for these kids in Mississippi," Holland said in a media release. "The bill that was introduced in the Legislature to allow the provision of these services passed with near unanimous approval of both the House and Senate. We all worked as a team to support the Department of health's excellent rules and with the Division of Medicaid to fulfill its responsibilities."

Pediatric Health Choice runs PPEC centers in five other states, and consultants for the group say it took a while after the 2012 bill passed to find the right place to locate and eventually build the facility.

The new Flowood facility is offering tours and will start operations this month as soon as they receive their Medicaid provider number.

Email state reporter Arielle Dreher at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @arielle_amara.