New children’s hospital planned Facility intended to meet health needs in San Jose

By MARIA LAGANGA

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the Silicon Valley Children’s Hospital Foundation have chosen Santa Clara Valley Medical Center as their partner in building a community children’s hospital in San Jose, LPCH and SVCHF officials announced in March.

The next step in this process will be for Packard Children’s Hospital and the Silicon Valley Children’s Hospital Foundation to work with Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and the county of Santa Clara to confirm the financial feasibility of the project and identify the programs and services to be provided at the proposed children’s hospital.

The vision is to create a children’s hospital that will have between 75 and 100 beds and an adjacent medical office building to house pediatricians and pediatric specialists. Both will be located on the campus of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. The new facility will be owned and operated by Packard Children’s Hospital. It is intended that the proposed hospital will contract with Valley Medical Center to provide some support and ancillary services.

"This new children’s hospital will improve access to quality medical care for the children of Santa Clara County," said Christopher Dawes, Packard’s CEO. "Valley Medical Center performs a vital service to the people of Santa Clara County. Together, Valley Medical Center, the Silicon Valley Children’s Hospital Foundation and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital will form a powerful health-care alliance that will benefit the children and families of the community."

Packard Children’s Hospital and the Silicon Valley Children’s Hospital Foundation chose Valley Medical Center because of its long history of commitment to pediatrics and its well-developed pediatric services. The selection culminates an eight-month effort to identify and select a local partner, a process that included multiple site visits.

"Valley Medical Center has long been recognized as a leader in primary and specialty pediatric care, a service that is core to its mission of caring for all residents of Santa Clara County regardless of their ability to pay," said Robert Sillen, executive director of the Santa Clara Valley Health & Hospital System. "The children’s hospital will embrace that mission as well. We’ve worked closely with Packard over the years and look forward to our new relationship with Packard and the Silicon Valley Children’s Hospital Foundation as we plan for the possibility of a children’s hospital on our campus."

The plan is for physicians from the community, Packard and Valley Medical Center to practice at the proposed children’s hospital. Currently, pediatric residents from the School of Medicine train at Packard Children’s Hospital and Valley Medical Center. The Stanford pediatric training program at Valley will be relocated to the proposed children’s hospital upon its opening.

If all of the pieces fall into place in terms of planning and feasibility, groundbreaking could occur as early as 2006. Once operational, Valley Medical Center’s inpatient pediatric services will be relocated to the new facility.

The San Jose children’s hospital was originally envisioned as a 50-bed pediatric facility within an adult institution. But over the past 16 months, as the parties worked together on the project, it evolved into a separate community children’s hospital. The three institutions involved in the project believe that, for a children’s hospital in San Jose to have a lasting impact on the health of future generations, it must be financially and programmatically healthy. A 50-bed unit within another institution is not large enough to be sustainable.

The main goal of the San Jose children’s hospital initiative is to consolidate what is now a fragmented system of pediatric care in San Jose. The children of Santa Clara County currently are cared for in many different hospitals throughout the region.