Cleveland Clinic, Boston Children's Hospital partner on pediatric heart care

Boston Children's Hospital and Cleveland Clinic are working together to provide complex pediatric heart services through the Clinic's national network, which offers curated providers and services directly to national employers and payers.

The two institutions announced in a news release on Wednesday morning that they have entered into an agreement to offer this complex pediatric care directly to employers nationally, with a goal of providing patients with easier access to affordable care and innovative treatments and therapies.

"In an effort to bring the best to our patients and to children with complex heart disease, the experts in heart care and in children care are coming together to put this partnership together so we can give the best value for these children with complex heart conditions," said Dr. Hani Najm, chair of pediatric and congenital heart surgery at the Clinic.

Through the agreement, Boston Children's now is a member of and has special status in the Clinic's network, a national-scale network of cardiovascular care providers to contract with employers and other payers. Boston Children's will participate in leadership of the pediatric program, share in the establishment and management of best practices for care, outcome measurement, quality reporting and clinical research, according to the release.

Some aspects of the affiliation already are underway, and patients might never see some of the changes, as they may be protocol or process oriented.

Over time, the two intend to expand the offered services to include other complex and rare pediatric care, according to the release. But as details are being discussed, the goal for now is to focus on heart health.

"Together, our goal to develop and provide consistently high-quality outcomes will drive ongoing improvement and spur innovations for the benefit of patients and families," said Dr. Pedro J. del Nido, chief of cardiac surgery at Boston Children's, in a statement. "The collaboration between our organizations offers access to high quality, cost effective care to employers' families who need the most complex heart care."

Boston Children's, one of the largest pediatric heart centers in the world, has in the last five years performed 6,881 cardiac surgeries, 7,607 catheterizations and 3,405 electrophysiology procedures, according to the release. In 2016, it reported 23,547 echocardiograms and 25,272 clinic visits.

Since 1985, when the Clinic began its pediatric heart program, it has performed more than 150 pediatric heart transplant surgeries. In 2016, it reported 8,331 pediatric outpatient visits, 7,114 echocardiograms and 438 catheterization procedures.

"During this time of increasing demand for value in the healthcare marketplace, teaming up with another renowned institution such as Cleveland Clinic provides a way for more patients from across the nation to access world-class specialized care," said pediatric surgeon Dr. Steven J. Fishman, president of Physician Organization and senior vice president of access and business services at Boston Children's, in a statement. "This agreement offers high-quality health care while managing costs."

For 22 consecutive years, U.S. News & World Report has ranked the Clinic No. 1 in adult heart care. Boston Children's is the country's top-ranked children's hospital.

The Clinic's pediatric heart program produces clinical outcomes above the national average, as reported by The Society for Thoracic Surgery, according to the release.

Boston Children's Hospital Heart Center cares for heart patients from around the globe with surgical success rates among the highest in the world, even in the most complex cases, the release stated.

"Decisions made in the first few hours, few days of the life of a child with congenital heart disease will impact their eventual survival and quality of life," Najm said. "And these decisions made by experts in the field would allow the best to be offered to those children with heart disease. Therefore, I think the ultimate beneficiary of this collaboration is the patient."

"Cleveland Clinic, Boston Children's Hospital partner on pediatric heart care" originally appeared in Crain's Cleveland Business.