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UCD, Mercy join forces to improve pediatric care at area hospitals

Mercy hospitals and UC Davis Medical Center are launching a three-year partnership aimed at widening access to pediatric care at area hospitals.

As part of the agreement, the medical center will station pediatricians at two Mercy facilities – Mercy San Juan Medical Center and Methodist Hospital – and make its specialized pediatric care available via teleconferencing.

"What we are trying to achieve is better access to inpatient pediatric care at the highest levels in the community," said Dr. Robert Kahle, chairman of pediatrics at Mercy San Juan and medical director for women's and children's services at Mercy's capital region hospitals.

Most pediatricians operate private practices and can't always provide constant care for patients at hospitals. The agreement with UC Davis allows the medical center staff to serve as so-called hospitalists – hospital-based physicians – to deliver care directly to hospitalized children or treat them on behalf of their regular pediatrician.

"If you're required to be at your office, it's very difficult to see a patient in the hospital," said Dr. Robert Pretzlass, chief of pediatric critical care medicine at UC Davis and medical director of pediatric concentrated care for Methodist and Mercy San Juan hospitals.

More important, the agreement will allow children to remain close to their communities, instead of having to be treated miles from home.

"It puts strain on families and kids to have to travel a significant distance to receive care," Pretzlass said.

"UC Davis is limited in space" at its pediatric wing, he said. "If we can provide these services for the patient in the community that they're in, it's better for the kid."

The two hospital systems are more often competitors than collaborators, but the arrangement makes business sense, according to hospital officials.

The deal provides another revenue source for the UC Davis health system while allowing Mercy to tap into UCD's expertise in pediatrics to widen its own reach.

Mercy hospital officials declined to disclose the monetary value of the contract and so did UC Davis officials, who cited an exception to the state's public records law for withholding the information.

The hospitals have had a similar partnership for years, but the new agreement expands the collaboration.

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