Akron Children’s Hospital to offer more specialty care through expanded partnership

AKRON, Ohio – Akron Children’s Hospital on Tuesday announced it is working with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to provide complex care in several medical specialties, including pediatric otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat), hepatology (liver disease) and bone marrow transplant.

The two health systems have worked together to care for kidney transplant patients for more than a decade, according to a news release. The new partnership will allow Akron Children’s to provide enhanced care for local patients in other specialties where Cincinnati Children’s excels. Cincinnati Children’s is the No. 1 ranked pediatric health system in the nation, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Children’s Hospitals 2023-24 rankings.

“We share a commitment to making it easier for families in eastern Ohio to receive world-class pediatric care close to their homes,” Cincinnati Children’s President and CEO Steve Davis said in the release. “Our newly expanded collaboration builds upon a well-established foundation.”

Staff from both healthcare teams will share time on both campuses to coordinate the delivery of specialty medical care for patients. Specialty services will also be provided via telemedicine.

“We are proud to build upon our successful collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s to ensure Akron Children’s patients can receive complex care, close to home, only traveling to Cincinnati in rare instances,” Akron Children’s president and CEO Chris Gessner said in the release.

Pediatric ENT

The healthcare systems will recruit and deploy more fellowship-trained pediatric ENT specialists in the Akron area with a goal of expanding access and growing the base of patients for research and clinical trials. The partnership will also result in shared expertise to help improve clinical guidelines.

Kidney transplant

Cincinnati Children’s has performed more than 800 kidney transplants, according to a news release. Akron Children’s will align its clinical protocols for the care of patients before and after kidney transplant surgery so its patients can receive most of their care close to home.

Hepatology

The two health systems will build upon their successful kidney transplant relationship to create a model that will align their clinical protocols for children in need of a liver transplant. This will allow patients to receive most of their care close to home.

Bone marrow transplant

Akron Children’s Showers Family Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders has performed bone marrow transplants since 2003. This new collaboration will allow Akron Children’s to increase the number of transplants it does, improve care and achieve Foundation for Accreditation of Cellular Therapy accreditation, according to the news release.

The two healthcare systems will look at furthering their clinical collaboration based on healthcare needs. They will also explore working together in the areas of research and education, according to the news release.

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