Connecticut Children's Medical Center and Hartford HealthCare have formed a Pediatric Care Alliance to expand and improve pediatric services across Connecticut.
Hartford HealthCare President and CEO Jeffrey Flaks and Connecticut Children's President and CEO Jim Shmerling announced the alliance Monday, building on 25 years of partnership and collaboration.
Under the alliance, Connecticut Children's pediatric services will be spread to all Hartford HealthCare facilities, Flaks said, in order to ensure access to pediatric care for communities throughout the state.
With that, the alliance will bring about advancements in services through investments and new programs.
According to Flaks, investments will be made to modernize and update neonatal intensive care unit services and facilities. Investments between the two health care systems will also be leveraged, Flaks said, in the infrastructure of electronic health records.
"We're going to work to perfect the hand-off when children become adolescents and adolescents become adults for their health care," Flaks said.
New programs will be formed, he said, through programs and services from both Connecticut Children's and Hartford HealthCare. Developments will also bring about services that are typically only available outside of Connecticut, he said.
Over the 25 years of collaboration, Shmerling said 90 different agreements of exchanged services have been signed.
However, according to Shmerling, this alliance will provide more structure and formalize the relationships across the state.
"This is a continuation and expansion and formalization of an existing relationship," Shmerling said.
The alliance will overall advance pediatric health care for communities throughout Connecticut, he said.
"We want to make it easier for children who need specialized care to access services and experts that can't be provided in the local community," he said.
The two signed the alliance late Monday morning at the flagpole between Hartford Hospital and Connecticut Children's.