Pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgery is one of many pediatric subspecialties. For many families who require these specialized services, it often means trekking across the state or country to a major medical center instead of finding the right services at their local health system. For local health systems, the situation means potentially losing that patient because the health system doesn't provide the necessary services.
In a May Becker's Hospital Review webinar sponsored by Pediatrix — which provides the first national approach to the development of pediatric surgical specialty care — Florida-based plastic surgeon Eric Stelnicki, MD, discussed the advantages for hospitals in partnering with a national program for pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgery.
Four key takeaways were:
- Launching a pediatric plastic/reconstructive surgery program is a major undertaking. Building a pediatric plastic/reconstructive surgery service line is a big investment that takes time, money and a major recruiting and development push. It may not be profitable for some time, so many hospitals opt not to create such a service line. That means that pediatric plastic surgery needs are referred out, potentially meaning loss of the patient. At other times, pediatric needs are met by practitioners who specialize in care for adults who are willing to provide care for kids.
"That really isn't what we see in other sub-specialties," Dr. Stelnicki said. "The diseases of children are not the same as the diseases of adults. And to treat them the same way means that you just don't understand the complexity of children." - Partnering can bring in referrals. Having a pediatric plastic surgeon is required for level one trauma centers, but it is also — even if provided through a partnership — a way to grow business. Because Pediatrix is a national program covering nearly 40 states, such a partnership not only doesn't compete with hospitals, it supplements them. "We are the first business model to harvest the ability of a national organization to develop nationwide referrals," Dr. Stelnicki said.
- A partnership can help leverage the newly realized power of telehealth. In an example Dr. Stelnicki shared, the family of a baby born with no ears needed an immediate consult on reconstruction. "I had the NICU call me from 800 miles away," he said. That direct, in-hospital connection allowed Pediatrix and the hospital to "give that mom an added level of comfort that they wouldn't have had without being able to talk to someone in our subspecialty on site." Through this partnership, leveraging telehealth, an expert was able to immediately respond to critical patient need. This would not have occurred without this partnership or without telehealth.
- A pediatric subspecialty partner can bring state-of-the-art innovation. Pediatrix, which offers partnerships in multiple pediatric sub-specialties, has introduced clinical approaches such as hard palate bone regeneration techniques and other innovations that, across their network of providers and experts, can reach many more people than ever before. Leveraging their own internal knowledge base, Pediatrix is able to offer better and more state-of-the-art care.
Working with a partner provider who does not compete with existing departments and service lines can be a cost-effective way to provide better care, retain patients and harness the power of an innovative distributed provider network on the local level.
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