In the community
Kaiser Permanente is making a significant, $2 billion investment in the health, economy, and well-being of Alameda County and the East Bay with the building of the new Kaiser Permanente San Leandro and Oakland Medical Centers, resulting in new hospitals, expanded services, and 24-hour emergency services open to the community.
Both set to open in 2014, together these medical centers will offer the full range of care and expertise for our members. As a result, pediatric services will expand when the Kaiser Permanente San Leandro Medical Center opens, adding to the care we provide for children already located in Hayward, Fremont, Oakland, and Alameda. This includes labor and delivery and expanded Level 3 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).
In southern Alameda County, members and their children will be able to see their pediatricians, pediatric specialists, and other physicians through routine office visits and outpatient clinics at medical centers in Hayward, Fremont, and San Leandro when it opens in 2014. Our pediatric offices in Hayward and Fremont will remain open, with no changes in service planned.
The construction of our two new medical centers in San Leandro and Oakland offers us the opportunity to enhance our inpatient pediatric care and services consistent with the knowledge that inpatient pediatric care is increasingly specialized.
When the new Oakland Medical Center opens and the Hayward hospital closes in 2014, children in the area who are Kaiser Permanente members will go to the new inpatient pediatric center at Oakland if they need to be hospitalized. The Oakland Medical Center will have one of the most comprehensive inpatient pediatric centers in the Bay Area, with specialized equipment, physicians, and staff, all dedicated to care for children.
By serving a larger population of children who need to be hospitalized, the new Pediatric Center will allow Kaiser Permanente to provide greater specialization and expertise under one roof, rivaling many children’s hospitals.
Creating a center of excellence is critical to providing high quality care for our pediatric patients. National studies show that higher patient volume is an important factor related to quality of care and better surgical outcomes. The current inpatient pediatric census in our Hayward hospital for children under a year old through age 14 is quite low, averaging four patients per day. A census this size creates challenges to care for such a special population.
In contrast, the Oakland Medical Center will have up to 35 beds for children and an expanded 12-bed pediatric intensive care unit—a high enough volume of patients to enable us to provide greater expertise and specialization in one place.
Kaiser Permanente is committed to the health and well being of our members and the communities we serve. We are proud to be investing in our communities in order to provide the wide range of quality care and services children need to be as healthy as possible.
