What to Expect When You Come to Boston Children's
During the current COVID-19 pandemic our top priority remains the safety of our patients, families, and staff.
To most effectively provide care while limiting wait times, all visits are currently by appointment only, and we cannot accept walk-in visits, even for blood draws and radiology. Please contact your provider for scheduling information.
Prepare for your visit to Boston Children's
When you and your child arrive at Boston Children’s for a visit, one of our staff members will ask you a few questions, including whether you have had symptoms or been exposed to anyone with COVID-19. Your child’s clinical team will tell you in advance whether or not they should be tested for COVID-19 prior to visiting the hospital.
- My Hospital Story: Preparing for a Visit at Boston Children’s Hospital
- My Hospital Story: Preparing for a Visit at Boston Children’s at Waltham
- Preparing for Your Hospital Visit During COVID-19
For the safety of all, we must ask that any visitor who has confirmed COVID-19 stay home and NOT visit Boston Children’s. Please isolate at home, per the state guidelines, and consider making your visit virtual. Until further notice, only two adult caregivers may visit or accompany a patient at one time. Read our visitor policy
Things may look a little different when you enter Boston Children’s again. We follow strict infection control recommendations, and to further reduce the risk of COVID-19, we have added some additional measures to keep our environment as safe for you and your family as possible.
Coming to Boston Children’s
Outpatient Aerosol-Generating Procedures
Satellite Locations
Your Dentistry Appointment
Outpatient Aerosol-Generating Procedures
Satellite Locations
Your Dentistry Appointment
Coming to Boston Children’s
Standing Orders
Testing for COVID-19
Coming to Boston Children’s
Standing Orders
Testing for COVID-19
Parking
Dining
Staying Safe at Boston Children's
Parking
Dining
Staying Safe at Boston Children's
What to Expect at Boston Children's
What to Expect at Boston Children's
Masks
Please wear face coverings as you walk from your car to our facility. When you arrive, we will give you and your child hospital-grade face masks to wear inside the building. You must wear the hospital-issued mask at all times, other than when eating or drinking. Please make sure your mask covers your mouth and nose, avoid touching your face or your mask and be sure to wash your hands often.
Please practice social distancing by maintaining six feet of space between you and another person as much as possible in all common areas of the lobby, waiting room, and while registering at the front desk. After your initial screening, we recommend that only one adult accompany the patient to the site and or enter the exam area. Please reduce your time spent at the hospital by using the MyChildren’s at Boston Children’s patient portal to pre-check in and manage payments.
Our cleaning practices are incorporate recommended guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All surfaces are being regularly cleaned and we continue to provide hand sanitizer throughout our locations.
Learn what changes to expect when you visit us for your scheduled outpatient appointment.
Schedule a virtual visit
Boston Children’s is offering virtual visits (video appointments) for follow-up care in a growing number of our clinics. This may allow you and your family to schedule an appointment with your child’s care team from home or another convenient location. Ask your provider if a virtual visit is right for you.
Appointments are necessary. Other than for emergencies, we can’t take walk-ins — even for blood draws, imaging tests, and lab tests.
When you arrive, we’ll ask you and your child to take off your masks from home and wear the hospital-grade face masks we give you. 
You may see some staff not wearing gloves. That’s because good hand hygiene works just as well in reducing the spread of germs.
As you enter our facility, we’ll ask you if you’ve had symptoms or been exposed to anyone with COVID-19.
Please practice social distancing by maintaining 6 feet of space between you and others as much as possible.
Only two adult caregivers may accompany a patient at one time. Visitors under the age of 18, including siblings, may not visit. Visitor policy
Until further notice, only two adult caregivers may visit or accompany a patient at one time. For their safety, visitors under the age of 18, including siblings, may not visit. This includes visiting patients who are staying in the hospital, as well as accompanying a patient to an appointment at any of our open locations or seeking care in our Emergency Department.
If you feel ill in any way please stay home. Please arrive to the hospital wearing a mask that covers your nose and mouth, and then wear the mask the hospital provides you upon arrival for the duration of your visit that day.
If you have tested positive for COVID-19, we strongly encourage you to stay home and self-quarantine for 14 days. Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19 is not permitted in the hospital and is advised to seek medical care. If your child’s other parent is not available to visit your child while you recover, you may designate one adult 18 years of age or older to visit during this time. You can visit the hospital again when you are symptom-free.
If you have a family member or friend at Boston Children’s and cannot visit in person, please consider other options for reaching out to let them know you care.
- contact them via Facetime or Skype
- send an email or card
- call their room directly through Patient Information at 617-355-6201
- contact our gift shop to send a surprise directly to their room via an online order
We know this may cause challenges, particularly for families with younger siblings, but we can all play a role in reducing the spread of this virus. We’re grateful for your help as we work together to safeguard all of our patients, families, and staff.
Traveling to Boston Children’s for care from out of state
Massachusetts is frequently updating travel guidelines. Patients and their parents/guardians seeking or receiving medical treatment are exempt from this policy, regardless of which state they come from. For the latest information, please see the list of exemptions on Mass.gov.
Frequently asked questions
Boston Children’s is open and providing urgent, emergent, and medically necessary care for patients during this COVID-19 outbreak. With an abundance of caution, we are slowly planning to add elective procedures and will work to reschedule these as soon as we can safely do so. We recommend you follow all CDC guidelines for safe travel along with any other recommendations from your healthcare provider.
We have now started a gradual process of reopening our main campus in Boston and our satellite locations to ensure we maintain the highest standards of safety. Because COVID-19 continues to pose a risk, we are first limiting in-person services to patients who need urgent, emergent, or other medically necessary services though anticipate we are currently working to resume most services over the next several weeks.
Additionally, we are still encouraging families to work with their primary care physician to schedule routine vaccinations and well-visits, as these are essential to your child’s continued health and development. Your Boston Children’s clinical team will assess your child’s health status and schedule a virtual or in-person appointment as needed.
If you have questions about an upcoming appointment, please contact your specialty clinic directly or call our COVID-19 hotline at 855-281-5730 or 617-355-4200.
If your child needs to go to the hospital for any reason, some preparation can help make the trip less stressful for your child, and everyone else. This planning packet can help you prepare.
The CDC recommends that children over age 2 wear a face-covering in public. We understand that wearing a mask is especially hard for some children. If you think your child is going to have a problem wearing a mask, let your provider know in advance so you can make a plan together.
Please contact your specialty clinic. Find my clinic.
As we begin to reopen more facilities and clinics, we are making sure our clinic hours comply with the state’s reopening plan. If your child needs care, please contact your specialty clinic to schedule an appointment. They can tell you what hours are available at that time.
Contact your specialty clinic so your child’s procedure can be rescheduled as soon as the COVID-19 crisis resolves. Alternatively, you can check our current policy regarding the postponement of non-urgent procedures here: Find my clinic. To stay up to date on all services, please sign up for the MyChildren’s Patient Portal.
We want to make sure that you have your child's routine medications, particularly respiratory medications, on hand at this time. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to the clinic.
To maintain social distancing, we have converted all food services to “Grab and Go” and removed seating from the cafeteria. Further, we have added line dividers to check-out areas to indicate the appropriate distance between visitors. Only Boston Children’s families and staff are allowed to enter the area.
At this time, we cannot offer child care and ask that you make arrangements for child care outside of the hospital.
Stay in touch through My Children’s: Our patient portal
MyChildren’s can help you pre-check-in for your appointment and securely message with our staff. You’ll also have electronic access to your results and visit notes as soon as they’re available. You can even manage payment online, so you don’t have to hand anyone a credit card. For patients and families seeing us in person, this will help reduce the amount of time you’ll spend in our waiting rooms. Overall, it’s the safest and easiest way to keep in touch with your care team
If you aren’t using the portal yet, please call our MyChildren’s support line at (617) 919-4396, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (excluding holidays) for help registering. You can also find directions here.
