The WellSpan Health network of care has unveiled a plan to care for children as the hospital’s paediatric ward closes, with WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital to focus on providing primary care only.
The move follows Keystone Pediatrics’ decision to end its in-patient paediatric unit and emergency department at WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital, with the hospital set to focus on providing “compassionate and high-quality health care for all” through its family medicine practices, urgent care locations, and paediatric practice locations with its partner, Keystone Pediatrics.
The decision to Keystone Pediatrics is expected to impact the number of paediatric patients seen at the hospital, with the hospital now focusing on caring for newborns in the hospital’s Level II NICU, a facility equipped to deliver babies as early as 32 weeks, as well as paediatric patients with acute illnesses, such as dehydration, acute asthma exacerbations, broken bones, and croup.
However, WellSpan has said that it remains committed to providing “comprehensive, state-of-the-art primary, specialty, outpatient, surgical, and urgent care options locally — for adults and children,” and Keystone Pediatrics’ decision will not impact the hospital’s wider mission to enhance care options and access for children with special health care needs, including behavioural health.
The hospital said it is also exploring plans to expand its medical residency programmes across the regions it serves in South Central Pennsylvania, with the first medical residents expected to welcome in 2025.
Dr Stephen Flack, medical director of primary care at WellSpan Health, said: “Our focus over the past decade has been to improve the coordination of primary care for all our patients before they have a need to be hospitalized. This includes our efforts for how we care for children. By successfully building patient centered medical homes, our care teams are keeping children healthier and are more successfully managing those with chronic conditions than ever before.”
Source: Wellspan.org