Regional Pediatric Pandemic Network Will Use Telehealth to Share Resources

Five nationally recognized children’s hospitals are getting $48 million in federal funding to launch a Regional Pediatric Pandemic Network, which will use telehealth to share best practices and resources on emergency readiness and response.

Awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and coordinated by the Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) Innovation and Improvement Center, the grant will help University Hospitals’ Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, the University of California at San Francisco’s Benioff Children’s Hospital, the University of Louisville School of Medicine’s Norton Children’s Hospital, the University of Utah’s Primary Children’s Hospital and Saint Louis University’s Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital establish a hub-and-spoke connected health network.

Officials envision a “network of networks” that will include the nation’s only two federally funded Pediatric Disaster Centers of Excellence, which are funded through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), and the EMSC Innovation and Improvement Center, which is funded through HRSA. A key component of that network will be telehealth and mHealth platforms that allow participants to share resources.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is an important reminder of the urgent need for every aspect of our healthcare system to be prepared to care for children every day and in future pandemics and disasters,” Charles Macias, MD, MPH, the EMSC Innovation and Improvement Center’s executive director and chief quality officer at UH Rainbow Babies and Children's, said in a press release.

Macias is a principal investigator for the grant, along with Christopher Newton, MD, FACS, FAAP, medical director of the Trauma Care Center and Pediatric Surgery Department at Benioff Children's. UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital will be the lead center in the five-year program.

According to the press release, the five hospitals “will serve as a hub-and-spoke model of expertise to support efforts for pediatric readiness and disaster preparedness (including pandemics) by incorporating specific focus areas, called ‘domains’ (such as trauma, equity, analytics, and others), to define best practices.”

Launched in 2016, the EMSC Innovation and Improvement Center is co-managed by the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School and UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s and partners with organizations like Yale University, the Baylor College of Medicine and the Lundquist Institute to improve healthcare outcomes for children in emergency settings.