FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington Regional Medical Center is the second hospital in the area to drop inpatient pediatric services since the arrival of Arkansas Children's Northwest hospital.
Washington Regional's board voted without opposition Tuesday to end inpatient pediatrics by Sept. 1.
"We feel very confident that if we do close our door to inpatient pediatrics, the community's level of care will not suffer," Dr. David Ratcliff, chief medical officer, told the board before the vote.
The change is limited to inpatient care involving a stay at the hospital and doesn't affect outpatient family medicine and clinic visits, for example. The medical center still runs a neonatal intensive care unit and delivery services at its Women and Infants Center, and Ratcliff said its adult-focused care can take on teens age 16 and up.
The inpatient closure also isn't absolute: Children between birth and late teens will still be treated if moving them would be dangerous. The rest will be referred to Children's in Springdale.
"We'd be dividing resources," such as pediatric nurses and physicians and specialists, otherwise, Ratcliff said.
The move follows a similar change at Northwest Health, which closed its eight-bed inpatient pediatric unit at its Bentonville medical center in May 2017. A system spokeswoman said then that Arkansas Children's approaching opening and the need for more adult beds were behind the change. Outpatient and emergency pediatric care continues there.
Mercy Northwest Arkansas hasn't taken the same approach with its clinics and Rogers medical center. Eric Pianalto, president, said Wednesday the system's yearslong, $277 million expansion will expand the neonatal intensive care unit from eight beds to 17 and the pediatric floor to accommodate 25 children, up from 20. The system also has hired more pediatricians and pediatric nurses.
"Women and children were a principle focus when Mercy's founder, Catherine McAuley, started the ministry, so it's elemental that we would stay true to that mission," Pianalto wrote in a statement.
Children's opened its hospital near Arvest Ballpark early this year and has reported seeing more than 2,000 children monthly. The facility includes 24 inpatient beds and exam and operating rooms for outpatient visits, surgery, chemotherapy and other treatments. Patients needing the most intensive care still go by ambulance or helicopter to the central hospital in Little Rock.
The Springdale children's hospital has one full-time surgeon on staff, and when she's away, another will be come from Little Rock to be available at any hour, said Trisha Montague, the hospital's chief administrator.
"It was always our goal to work closely with the three health systems in Northwest Arkansas to ensure we enhanced the care already available in the region," Montague wrote in an email. "We stand ready to address the health needs of the region's children -- inpatient and outpatient -- regardless of acuity and volume."
Montague pointed out Children's opted not to have a neonatal intensive care unit because other hospitals had that covered.
Washington Regional's 20-bed pediatric unit at the women's center can now be used for gynecology and other patients, spokeswoman Gina Maddox said Wednesday. The unit previously was in the main medical center building but was replaced by a neurosurgical intensive care unit.
CEO Larry Shackelford said after Tuesday's meeting about a dozen children were usually in the unit, but since Children's opened the number had dwindled to one or none.
Shackelford said no staff members would be affected by the closure. Ratcliff earlier had said Children's hired away several staff members.
Board members Tuesday had a few questions about the proposal before they approved it, particularly about Children's ability to handle the need.
"I would see some difficulties coming up if they only have one surgeon," Dr. M. Gareth Eck said. Ratcliff said the plan going back several months was to keep providing inpatient services until Children's could deliver the same care, and they appeared to have met the threshold.
NW News on 08/23/2018