Finding Value in Variation

Although the practice of pediatric hospital medicine spans a wide range of inpatient settings, patient types, and clinical conditions, the largest group of pediatric patients seen by hospitalists are well newborns in a level I nursery setting.^1,2  As the subspecialty of pediatric hospital medicine continues to grow, it has been suggested that newborn hospitalist services can be a meaningful and financially beneficial way to add value to a pediatric hospital medicine program.³  However, although designation of facilities according to their capabilities to care for newborns exists, admission criteria for which newborns are eligible for level I newborn care are not standard and guidelines for admission criteria are limited.⁴ 

In the original research article “Admission and Care Practices in United States Nurseries,” Joshi and colleagues surveyed 69 physician site representatives to the Academic Pediatric Association’s Better Outcomes through Research for Newborns (BORN) Network.⁵  The authors...