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Dan DeBehnke, M.D. |
Children’s Hospital & Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine announced Monday the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to explore building upon their current affiliation in an effort to enhance the care provided to children and families in the greater Omaha community and beyond.
The two health systems are committed to improving the quality of care provided to pediatric patients and families, enhancing access to care, and improving care coordination and patient satisfaction. Ultimately, both Children’s and Nebraska Medicine desire to make the delivery of care more efficient and reduce cost to the community with an eye toward creating a seamless experience for children and families.
“Both health systems are deeply committed to ensuring the community has access to the very best specialty and sub-specialty pediatric care, and we believe this proposed collaboration will help us better deliver on that commitment,” said Richard Azizkhan, M.D., Children’s president & CEO.
“These discussions are a first step in exploring how we can strengthen our current relationship,” said Dan DeBehnke, M.D., CEO of Nebraska Medicine. “Our organizations have a decades-long history of working together. This is a great opportunity to determine how we can improve what we do together.”
Children’s Hospital & Medical Center also has a long-established relationship with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. UNMC also will be involved in discussions about how to shape a better future for specialty and sub-specialty pediatric care in the region.
“The goal is to provide safe and quality patient care, excellent service, recruit top-notch pediatric talent to the area, educate the next generation of providers and invest in innovation and discovery,” said Bradley Britigan, M.D., dean of the UNMC College of Medicine. “Most importantly, this will improve specialty and sub-specialty pediatric care in the Omaha area and throughout Nebraska.”
The discussions are just beginning. Leaders from Children’s and the medical center say a full merger is not part of the discussion. Instead, they will look at how to better collaborate to provide patients and families with the most expert care, the best experience, and the most value.