Kettering Main’s staff will remain employed by Kettering Health, and the hospital will continue to provide 24/7 neonatology services through an existing partnership with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Dayton Children’s is in the process of interviewing for the director, said Debbie Feldman, president and CEO of Dayton Children’s Hospital.
Patients will be billed by Dayton Children’s, she said.
Adam Maycock, president of Kettering Health Main Campus, said Dayton Children’s expertise in child care will be a “great benefit” to how Kettering serves patients of all age ranges.
“We see this collaboration as a key step to providing the best possible care and experience for patients during the crucial initial days of a child’s life,” Maycock said. “This will not only keep more families together through their comprehensive, whole-person care, but further strengthen how both organizations support health through pregnancy, delivery and the first steps in our community.”
Kettering Health Main Campus NICU treats about 400 babies a year, he said.
It is the first collaboration of its type between Kettering Health and Dayton Children’s, the administrators said, but is a common practice among hospital systems.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital has similar arrangements with several adult hospitals in the Columbus area, according to its website.
The agreement is designed to improve infant mortality rates in the region and provide seamless, integrated care for critically ill newborns at Kettering Health, administrators with the hospitals said in a joint statement.
In 2023, the most recent year for which statistics are available, Montgomery County had an infant mortality rate of 9.8 per 1,000 births. Ohio’s infant mortality rate was 7.1 according to the Ohio Department of Children and Youth annual infant mortality report.
The collaboration will offer future opportunities for innovation in the care of babies, the statement said.
“Together we are going to make Dayton the best place to be born and grow up,” Feldman said. “Through this teamwork, we give babies the best possible start in life and work to overcome critical health issues that our community faces, such as the high rate of infant mortality.”
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