The Children's Hospital, Denver Health sign Affiliation Agreement to care for children of all ages

The Children's Hospital and Denver Health have signed an official Affiliation Agreement to leverage the substantial strengths of both institutions to provide outstanding programs in pediatric patient care, education, research and advocacy. Under the agreement, two of the largest pediatric health care providers in the region are able to provide improved access for patients, share best practices and more efficiently use resources.

“It's these kinds of collaborative efforts and commitments to share resources that serve our community well.”

"This agreement continues a partnership by Denver Health and The Children's Hospital to provide high-quality care to children of all ages in and around Denver," said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. " It's these kinds of collaborative efforts and commitments to share resources that serve our community well."

Specific examples of the two institutions' collaboration include:

• Addressing the demand for pediatric and adolescent behavioral health services by ensuring that children of all ages have access to both inpatient and outpatient mental health services at the two hospitals. This is in direct response to the closure of a state behavioral health facility last year.
• Coordinating recruitment and sharing of highly specialized pediatric providers who can provide services as needed at both facilities. For instance, Dr. Monica Federico, a pediatric pulmonologist with The Children's Hospital, now sees patients at Denver Health to assist with the strong demand for asthma and pulmonary care among the city's and county's pediatric population.
• Advancing advocacy and outcomes issues for children throughout the community. One such example is the collaboration of Dr. Kathryn Wells from Denver Health and Dr. Andy Sirotnak from The Children's Hospital in efforts to treat and combat child abuse in our community.

"At a time during which the economy continues to struggle, collaborative partnerships such as this one are crucial when it comes to meeting the increased health care needs of our children and families," said Jim Shmerling, CEO and president of The Children's Hospital. "We strongly believe that this affiliation is in the best interest of the health of children in Denver and Colorado and also in the best future interest of both institutions."

"The Children's Hospital and Denver Health have been collaborating for many years, and this renewed commitment demonstrates the successes that can be achieved through cooperation versus competition," said Patricia A. Gabow, M.D., CEO of Denver Health. "As academic health care institutions with a commitment to the highest quality care, teaching and research, we are natural partners."

Specifically, through the agreement, The Children's Hospital and Denver Health pledge to continue to work together to:

• Assure an appropriate level of pediatric care for the children of the City and County of Denver and within the Rocky Mountain region
• Advocate for the needs of Colorado's children
• Provide service to all children, regardless of their caregivers' ability to pay
• Strive to set, achieve and exceed national quality benchmarks for pediatric care
• Collaborate to develop new services to build on each institution's strengths
• Work in a collaborative manner to provide specialized services
• Contribute new knowledge to improving the care of children