Friday, April 1, 2022
 
Dear Community:
 
We wanted to update you briefly on two developments this week regarding Tufts Children’s Hospital.
 
First, in accordance with regulatory requirements, we submitted a notice to the Department of Public Health (DPH) and other appropriate parties detailing the proposed closure of pediatric intensive care and medical/surgical beds at Tufts Children’s Hospital.
 
Second, we are making an important change to our pediatric oncology services as a result of ongoing discussions between our oncology team and the teams at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) and Dana Farber Cancer Center. Because pediatric cancer patients in active treatment such as chemotherapy often require overnight stays, effective July 1, we will no longer offer active treatment services. We are working with our patients and their families in active treatment to ensure a smooth transition in their care. For patients no longer in active treatment, we are evaluating how best to provide optimal long-term care but for now we continue to provide follow-up oncology care in our outpatient clinic. Today we sent a letter to all our pedi-oncology families with this information and will continue to provide service updates to our patients as we navigate this change.
 
We continue to work closely with our physicians. All Tufts Children’s Hospital physicians will be receiving a formal offer letter from Boston Children’s Hospital. The goal of this new employment model is to allow our talented doctors to maintain or grow their outpatient practices throughout Tufts Medicine at current locations while providing a way to become part of the care teams at BCH.
 
Also, work continues around our academic mission. Rotations continue to be established for residents in pediatrics and across other disciplines, as are schedules for new core clerkships, acting internships and electives at BCH for Tufts University School of Medicine students. We are also planning to initiate work to assure the long-term success of our many pediatric research programs.
 
Thank you for your patience as we continue to reimagine pediatrics across Tufts Medicine.
 
Sincerely,
The Tufts Medicine Integrated Network is a distinctively different population health enterprise and value-based care contracting entity. It comprises 2,300 primary care and specialist physicians and advanced practice clinicians, working as Tufts Medicine employees or in private practice, delivering care in community and hospital settings. The Network’s purpose is to build healthier communities and to create healthy, rewarding experiences for our members and care teams. The Network was launched in July 2021 by building upon the legacies of two long-standing, high-performing organizations – Lowell General Physician Hospital Organization and New England Quality Care Alliance (NEQCA).

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