BOSTON, Mass., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts-New England Medical Center and Children’s Hospital Boston today announced that they have an agreement to enter into exclusive negotiations leading to the creation of an innovative maternal/pediatric partnership.
“We expect to create a maternal and child service of outstanding clinical excellence, depth and breadth that provides patient-centered care in the appropriate setting, physician training that continues to attract world-class talent, and clinical and basic research that advances the quality of care,” said Tufts-NEMC President and CEO Ellen Zane.
“We enter into these discussions with the goal of improving care for families in Boston, Massachusetts and New England through better access to high-quality, affordable health care,” said James Mandell, M.D., CEO and President of Children’s Hospital Boston. “We both bring tremendous missions, histories and strengths to the table.”
Leaders of the two hospitals are now working out an agreement regarding the structure and operating principles of the partnership. The affiliation will benefit from the reputation of both institutions. The coming together of these outstanding pediatric hospitals will offer patients and their families access to a child/maternal network with expanded resources and depth in clinical care. Opportunities for medical students, physicians-in-training and researchers will be preserved and enhanced through such a partnership. In addition, both institutions have strong and deep commitments to improving the health of Boston’s children that will remain in tact and active.
The new network will offer world class maternal, fetal and child care. In 1992, Tufts-New England Medical Center became the first, full-service teaching hospital in Boston with the addition of its maternity service. To complement the maternity service, the Floating Hospital is home to a 40-bed Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which provides care for even the most premature infants and offers mother and infant care under one roof.
Children’s Hospital Boston is one of the nation’s premier pediatric medical centers, ranked for 15 years as one of the nation’s top pediatric hospitals by U.S. News and World Reports. Founded in 1869 as a 20-bed hospital, Children’s today is a 300-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care, serving as a regional referral center for all of New England and beyond. The hospital also provides more inpatient pediatric care for low-income families than any other in Massachusetts. Children’s is home to the world’s largest pediatric hospital-based research enterprise, where discoveries have benefited both children and adults for over a century. For more information, visit: http://www.childrenshospital.org/.
True to its name, the 110-year-old Floating Hospital for Children began as an actual floating hospital that sailed Boston Harbor from 1894 to 1927. One of the Floating’s early research successes was the creation of the first effective synthetic milk product for infants, known and still sold worldwide today as Similac(R). The Floating Hospital pioneered the concept of allowing parents to stay overnight with their sick children, a practice that is now standard throughout the country. For more information, visit http://www.tufts-nemc.org/.
Contact: Michelle Davis, Children’s Hospital 617-355-5343 Joan Fallon, Floating Hospital 617-636-0205
Tufts-New England Medical Center and Children’s Hospital Boston
CONTACT: Michelle Davis of Children’s Hospital, +1-617-355-5343; or JoanFallon of Floating Hospital, +1-617-636-0205