How to Strengthen Pediatric Services in Your Hospital

Pediatric cost and quality considerations are spurring some community hospitals to partner with well-known children's hospitals, suggests Navigant's Scott Ransom, M.D. in H&HN. They include:

• Physician access: The children’s hospital either directly or via telemedicine provides patient access to pediatric specialists and subspecialists that the community hospital normally wouldn’t be able to recruit.
• Scope of services: In some partnerships, the presence of children’s hospital physicians allows the community hospital to expand services to include needed offerings, such as pediatric emergency or advanced neonatal care.
• Quality: The partnership elevates the quality of care through use of the children’s hospital’s clinical protocols and care pathways.
• Patient volume: The reputation boost and expanded services brought by the partnership increase the community hospital’s patient volume, which helps to cover the cost of frequently money-losing inpatient pediatric services.