Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Hospitals must keep their doors open to all types of sick children

Jay Berry, MD, MPH
Physician
January 20, 2013
Share
Tweet
Share

My first encounter with a children’s hospital was as a first grader in 1980, when my 5-year-old cousin was diagnosed with cancer. Although her family was challenged to afford her cancer treatments, St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis welcomed her and treated her cancer into remission. I remember my parents saying, “Everybody in that hospital loves children. No child is turned away.”

In 1997, walking into the Children’s Hospital of Alabama as a medical student, I felt the same sense of hope and courage. Everyone on the staff believed that they could make a difference in the lives of the children and families, despite the horrific illnesses that many of the children endured. I knew, immediately, that I wanted to become a pediatrician and to learn how to care for sick children.

Nearly 15 years have passed, and I’m still learning. As a general pediatrician with the Complex Care Service (CCS) at Boston Children’s Hospital, I care for “medically complex” children. These children have complex chronic health problems like severe cerebral palsy and Pompe’s disease. Many of them rely on medical technology, like feeding and breathing tubes, to help maintain their health. They routinely see a myriad of different providers to manage their health problems. In CCS, we try to optimize the health and well-being of these children by meeting their health needs, coordinating their care and creating proactive care plans for them.

Many of our patients travel long distances, across state lines, to get care at Boston Children’s Hospital because their local providers and hospitals are not set up to care for them. In a recent study of 28 children’s hospitals across the United States and Canada, we found that children with medical complexity are the most rapidly growing population of patients receiving hospital care. They are utilizing children’s hospitals more frequently over time than are healthier children, and they are becoming the predominant population that children’s hospitals serve in the inpatient setting.

Children with medical complexity tend to arrive at the hospital with acute illnesses that are difficult to treat. They require more resources (medications, equipment, hospital staff) than healthier children. They stay in the hospital for a longer time, and they have a higher risk of returning back to the hospital after they are discharged home. If they do transition successfully to home, their parents and providers are faced with a heavy caregiving burden to keep them safe and healthy over time.

In the current political and economic climate, state and federal funds for children’s health are at risk for being cut, including Medicaid coverage for hospital care and coverage for community health services like home nursing and durable medical equipment. Most children with medical complexity rely on these funds to maintain their health, and children’s hospitals rely on these funds to treat these children.

Making matters worse, federal funding to train America’s next generation of pediatricians might be reduced. In the last few decades, most pediatricians have graduated from residency and fellowship programs in children’s hospitals, where, like me, they were taught how to properly care for children with medical complexity.

What will happen to these children if fewer pediatricians are trained to care for them? If limitations in their insurance plans preclude their healthcare needs from being met? Where would these children go for their care? What would their families do? Could existing community pediatricians pick up the slack? I’m bothered by the potential answers to these questions.

I’ve been privileged to train and work with clinicians and researchers from America’s best children’s hospitals. I’ve seen, first hand, how important these hospitals are for children, especially those with medical complexity. No matter how threatening the political and economic climate may be, children’s hospitals must keep their doors open to all types of sick children.

Jay Berry is a pediatrician and hospitalist in the Complex Care Service at Boston Children’s Hospital. He blogs at Vector, the Boston Children’s Hospital science and clinical innovation blog

Prev

MKSAP: 27-year-old woman is evaluated for a 4-week history of wheals

January 20, 2013 Kevin 1
…
Next

Health plans need to take more responsibility for rising costs

January 20, 2013 Kevin 3
…

Tagged as: Hospital-Based Medicine, Pediatrics

Post navigation

< Previous Post
MKSAP: 27-year-old woman is evaluated for a 4-week history of wheals
Next Post >
Health plans need to take more responsibility for rising costs

ADVERTISEMENT

More in Physician

  • Why patients and doctors are fleeing flagship hospitals

    Anonymous
  • The hidden reason your vacations never feel like enough

    Kent DeLay, MD
  • Building trust in dyad leadership partnerships

    Amir Atabeygi, MD, MHA and Christina Mitchell, MHA
  • The hidden moral injury behind value-based health care

    Jonathan Bushman, DO
  • Why physicians struggle with caregiving and how to cope with grace

    Jessie Mahoney, MD
  • Why agency and partnership are vital in modern health care

    Alan P. Feren, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why so many doctors secretly feel like imposters

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • Why rigorous training is vital for today’s surgeons

      Philip Alford, MD | Physician
    • A physician employment agreement term that often tricks physicians

      Dennis Hursh, Esq | Finance
    • Why hospital jobs are failing physicians: burnout, pay, and lost autonomy

      Justin Nabity, CFP | Finance
    • The cost of ending shadowing in medical education

      Matthew Ryan, MD, PhD | Education
    • Why enterprise risk management is key to value-based health care success

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • Extreme weight cutting harms health and resilience in youth wrestling

      Sarah White, APRN | Conditions
    • The case for a standard pre-med major in U.S. universities

      Devin Behjatnia | Education
    • A physician employment agreement term that often tricks physicians

      Dennis Hursh, Esq | Finance
    • Why patients and doctors are fleeing flagship hospitals

      Anonymous | Physician
    • The hidden reason your vacations never feel like enough

      Kent DeLay, MD | Physician
    • Confronting the return of measles and vaccine misinformation [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 3 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why so many doctors secretly feel like imposters

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • Why rigorous training is vital for today’s surgeons

      Philip Alford, MD | Physician
    • A physician employment agreement term that often tricks physicians

      Dennis Hursh, Esq | Finance
    • Why hospital jobs are failing physicians: burnout, pay, and lost autonomy

      Justin Nabity, CFP | Finance
    • The cost of ending shadowing in medical education

      Matthew Ryan, MD, PhD | Education
    • Why enterprise risk management is key to value-based health care success

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • Extreme weight cutting harms health and resilience in youth wrestling

      Sarah White, APRN | Conditions
    • The case for a standard pre-med major in U.S. universities

      Devin Behjatnia | Education
    • A physician employment agreement term that often tricks physicians

      Dennis Hursh, Esq | Finance
    • Why patients and doctors are fleeing flagship hospitals

      Anonymous | Physician
    • The hidden reason your vacations never feel like enough

      Kent DeLay, MD | Physician
    • Confronting the return of measles and vaccine misinformation [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Hospitals must keep their doors open to all types of sick children
3 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...