“This partnership to me is really a continuation and really part of our Dayton Children’s overall vision and mission, which is the relentless pursuit of optimal health for every child within our reach, and the reality is optimal health starts a primary care. For the vast majority of children that’s where it needs to stay,” said Deborah Feldman, Dayton Children’s president and CEO. “There are some children that will need those specialists that Dayton Children’s provides.”
This partnership provides for a smooth transition from PriMED’s services over to Dayton Children’s, she said.
Dayton Children’s is one of 31 independent, freestanding children’s hospitals in the country, serving 20 counties in Ohio and eastern Indiana and caring for more than 320,000 children each year. PriMED Pediatrics has 22 pediatricians and 168 staff who provide primary care to 30,000 children in the Dayton region.
“This was a way to work directly with Dayton Children’s,” said Charlie Hardtke, PriMED CEO. “Health care has changed a lot in the last 10 years, and this was a way to be more integrated, to be able to share more protocols, and be able to really elevate the care on both sides, for them and for us, to take care of the children.”
This partnership, which was effective Monday, will improve the continuity of care for children through each entity sharing technology and digital resources, such as electronic medical records, the businesses said in a release.
“Being able to share the electronic medical records, to be able to have alignment around the data, and really then eliminate or certainly significantly reduce the amount of friction that families might have in that process is just so important for us,” Feldman said.
There is also the potential for better efficiency and new services under this agreement, Hardtke said. PriMED physicians will continue to be part of PriMED, and kids whose families bring them to PriMED will continue to see the same doctors.
This professional service agreement between Dayton Children’s and PriMED has been in the works for a year as they have been working “to create this kind of new system of caring,” said Dr. Erin Perkey, pediatric division chair for PriMED.
“This partnership will allow us to kind of further our PriMED mission of comprehensive and quality health care, along with a joint vision with Dayton Children’s, of creating a more stronger, integrated medical home,” Perkey said. “So it’s going to allow us to reach more children in the Dayton area and just to provide continuity and overall care for them.”
This agreement does not apply to PriMED Family Practice or Neurology.
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