A full-service pediatric practice is opening this month inside a place Cleveland children already know: Akron Children’s Pediatrics at Broadway Boys & Girls Club, at 6114 Broadway Ave. in Cleveland, will offer same-day sick visits, well checks, comprehensive primary care and integrated behavioral health for patients from birth through age 21 and beyond, Cleveland Magazine reported.
The 3,165-square-foot practice includes six exam rooms and a dedicated space for behavioral health appointments, and it is open to any child or family in the surrounding community — families do not need to be Boys & Girls Club members to make an appointment, Cleveland Magazine reported. Broadway was chosen to launch the partnership because Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio serves a large number of children and families there, in an area with need.
"All families in the area can access healthcare more conveniently and confidently," Brian Dinger, Akron Children’s vice president of primary care and school health services, told Cleveland Magazine. "We really want to meet the families where they are," Dinger told Cleveland Magazine, noting that club members are already at the locations for afterschool and summer programs, mentoring, education and athletics.
The Broadway practice is the bricks-and-mortar start of a wider partnership. Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio operates more than 30 clubs across Cuyahoga, Lorain, Erie and Summit counties, and through the partnership those clubs can connect members with Akron Children’s network of 46 pediatric primary care practices, including walk-in and same-day sick visits, well-child care, behavioral health, nutrition counseling and access to specialists, Cleveland Magazine reported.
Every one of the 30-plus clubs has iPads for virtual health visits and Quick Care Online visits, so with parental consent a club staff member can help a child who gets sick at the club see a clinician without waiting for a parent to finish work, Cleveland Magazine reported. Dinger gave the magazine the example of a child who develops pink eye at the club: a virtual visit can happen on site, and a prescription can be waiting at the pharmacy for the parent to pick up on the way home. For families who need in-person care but face transportation challenges, Akron Children’s works with insurance payers to help arrange transportation.
Behavioral health is built into the model rather than referred out. Screenings are part of well-child visits and therapists are available for additional support. "Children can’t achieve their full potential academically, socially or physically if mental health needs are not addressed," Dinger told Cleveland Magazine. "Early intervention, when needed, is key."
Akron Children’s says it will judge the Broadway model over time by more than appointment counts — looking at well-child visit completion, immunization rates, behavioral health engagement and unnecessary emergency department use. Dinger’s simplest measure, he told Cleveland Magazine, is personal: "More children have a trusted medical home. They receive preventive care earlier."
[…] For patients in Washington County and neighboring rural counties, the stakes are practical: rural systems run on thin margins, and supplemental Medicaid payments are part of how they keep services — including the maternity and children’s care the Belpre hospital is meant to expand — available close to home. The partnership behind that project is the same Akron Children’s network that this week opened a pediatric practice inside a Cleveland Boys & Girls Club. […]