PHILADELPHIA PA – Two regional health systems dedicated to children’s care announced an affiliation agreement Thursday (Sept. 21, 2023) that they said would “enhance care, health outcomes, and well-being” of Southeastern Pennsylvania families.
Allentown-based Lehigh Valley Health Network and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) said they would collaborate to ensure “children requiring care should see the most appropriate clinical team in a timely fashion, and in the most appropriate location closest to their home and family.”
Locally, Lehigh Valley operates medical offices or facilities in Pottstown, Pennsburg, and Quakertown, and currently is building a hospital and health center offices in Gilbertsville. CHOP operates primary care offices in Pottstown, Sanatoga, and Collegeville, and a children’s hospital and family care facility in King of Prussia.
Their release did not address financial arrangements of the collaboration, if any, or the length of term of the agreement.
The provider networks jointly said their affiliation was “designed to enable both organizations to optimally care for children in the region.” That includes patients “with high-risk, high-complexity, (and) rare and acute diagnoses,” they added. It also is expected to assist both organizations in education and research, according to the media release.
Lehigh Valley and CHOP said they “have a long-standing relationship, previously collaborating across numerous clinical areas” to care for local families. The new affiliation represents “a more formalized process to support these shared patients.” It offers “access to CHOP’s expertise in rare and complex diseases, while harnessing (Lehigh Valley’s) pediatric care.”
Top photo by Kristine Wook on Unsplash, used by Travels With The Post under license
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