Autumn, so far, has been big for children's hospitals.
In the eight-day span between Sept. 26 and Oct. 4, three health systems shared plans to construct new pediatric care facilities. The construction projects will allow for expanded services and "state-of-the-art" care, according to news releases from the organizations.
Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health was first to make an announcement on Sept. 26. The system is planning its first standalone children's hospital, a project expected to cost $2 billion and take up to a decade to construct. The hospital is still a new concept — an exact location hasn't been decided — but North Carolina lawmakers have already approved a $320 million initial investment toward the facility.
UNC said the hospital will be "comparable in clinical and academic scale to any of the top children's hospitals in the country."
Two days later, St. Louis-based SSM Health said it would rebuild its Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, which has been standing since 1956. The new facility will be 14 stories and allow for "expanded and enhanced services," from a neonatal intensive care unit to dialysis care. It is expected to open in 2027.
Cardinal Glennon sits near the campus of Saint Louis University — a key investment point for SSM over the past few years. The system opened its Saint Louis University Hospital in 2020 and acquired SLUCare Physician Group from the college in 2022.
BayCare, based in Clearwater, Fla., is also adding a children's hospital to its growing list of capital projects. The health system plans to construct a new building for its Tampa-based St. Joseph's Children's Hospital, which currently sits adjacent to St. Joseph's Hospital and shares some facilities. The new hospital will allow for evolved care and research, and is expected to open by 2027; it is the fourth new hospital project from BayCare in the past five years.
This outpouring of new children's hospitals comes as a recent report paints U.S. pediatric care in a negative light. An Oct. 1 investigation from The Wall Street Journal found that only 14 percent of American emergency departments are certified as ready to treat children or are specifically there for young people. About 1,440 children died between 2012 and 2017 because the emergency rooms they visited were not prepared to treat them, according to a January study published in JAMA Network Open.
Chris DeRienzo, MD, chief physician executive for the American Hospital Association, pushed back against the Journal's report, writing: "Let's be clear — America's hospitals and health systems are committed to continually improving the care we provide for our communities, and that includes caring for kids." This month's children's hospital boom seems to support his position that (at least some) systems are prioritizing pediatric care.