September 13, 2016

91416baylorbulidings2640On Monday, Texas Children’s finalized the purchase of the Baylor Clinic building at 6620 Main St. and the O’Quinn Medical Tower at 6624 Fannin St. The buildings were acquired from Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and will now be called the 6624 Fannin Medical Tower and the Baylor Medical Clinic at 6620 Main St.

“As we anticipate the future demands of our patient population and the community, finding additional space is critical,” said Texas Children’s President and CEO Mark A. Wallace. “We are fortunate that two properties in the Texas Medical Center, in such close proximity to our existing facilities, became available.”

Wallace added that the purchase of the buildings is not about bricks and mortar but our mission and our ability to better serve more children, women and families who require the unique services of Texas Children’s.

“This is an investment in our mission of advancing patient care, education and research,” Wallace said. “It’s all about investing in people: our medical staff, our employees and especially in our patients and their families.”

Click here for Mark Wallace’s blog post – TMC building acquisition: Planning for the future, growing for our people

Initially, Texas Children’s will lease back a portion of each building to its current tenants until CHI St. Luke’s Health and Baylor College of Medicine relocate to Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center’s 27.5-acre McNair Campus. Texas Children’s Director of Real Estate Services David Perryman will provide oversight of third-party property management firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) to operate the buildings until the leases expire and tenants relocate.

Meanwhile, a facilities master planning initiative is underway to integrate these two properties into Texas Children’s overall expansion and growth plans for pediatric and women’s services. Texas Children’s does not intend to actively market or lease existing or future vacancies.

“The purchase of these two buildings will help us connect our services even more so than they already are,” said Jill Pearsall, assistant vice president of Facility Planning and Development. “It also will offer a tremendous amount of support to our staff and physicians, and it will ultimately improve not only patient care but the quality of our patients’ experience when they seek our services.”

The Baylor Clinic Building was built in 2003, has 15 stories – 10 of which are parking – and comprises 227,670 square feet of rentable area. The O’Quinn Medical Tower was built in 1991, has 27 stories – six of which are parking – and provides 445,725 square feet of office and clinical space.

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Weldon Gage said Texas Children’s purchased the properties with money from the organization’s cash reserves, which are set aside specifically for capital expenditures and are separate from the hospital’s operating budget.

“This purchase is a perfect example of why we need to have significant cash on hand,” Gage said. “In doing so, we are able to take advantage of opportunities such as these that will further our mission.”

Below are additional details about the purchase, the buildings and how they will be used.

What is the short-term plan for both locations?
We will continue to lease space to the current tenants. Our facilities master planning also will help determine how these two properties can be used to support our overall growth of pediatric and women’s services.

Who will manage the leases?
Texas Children’s Director of Real Estate Services David Perryman will provide oversight of a third-party property management firm, JLL, to operate these buildings.

How long will we lease the space to the current tenants?
We will honor the leases of current tenants and determine future plans as part of our facilities master planning. We do not intend to actively market or lease existing or future vacancies.

Did we know these buildings would be available prior to beginning construction on Pediatric Tower E?
No, we did not. However, we are fortunate that two properties so close to our existing facilities became available, as they will help us address the growth of pediatric and women’s services we anticipate in the future.

What will backfill the relocated locations?
Our facilities master planning is underway to determine how these two properties will help us meet our overall growth of pediatric and women’s services. As this plan is finalized, we will be determining how vacated areas will be backfilled.

Will the buildings be renamed?
Eventually the buildings will be renamed, subject to any naming rights or restrictions transferred with the sale. We also want to be respectful of existing tenants and their patients who know the buildings by their current names. That is why the buildings initially will be called the 6624 Fannin Medical Tower and the 6620 Baylor Medical Clinic.

Are any improvements planned for the building?
We are developing short-term and long-term capital plans to help ensure an efficient, reliable and comfortable environment for our employees, tenants and the public.

91416biliaryatresia640Physicians at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine have found a way to detect biliary atresia and other neonatal liver diseases in newborns using a simple blood test. Infants with biliary atresia, a life-threatening and hard-to-detect disease of the liver and bile ducts, can now be diagnosed and treated earlier, which has the potential to reduce the number of infants needing liver transplantation.

“Biliary atresia is a particularly devastating disease and is the most common reason why children need a liver transplant,” said Dr. Sanjiv Harpavat, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Texas Children’s and assistant professor of pediatrics – gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at Baylor. “We know that diagnosing and treating biliary atresia earlier with an operation called the Kasai portoenterostomy could help children delay or even avoid transplant. However, we also know that biliary atresia is very challenging for clinicians to identify early.”

To address the problem of making an early diagnosis, Harpavat and his colleagues, including Dr. Benjamin Shneider, professor of pediatrics and George Peterkin Endowed Chair at Baylor and chief of the gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition service at Texas Children’s, designed a study to test a simple way to screen infants for biliary atresia in the first 2 to 3 weeks of life. Their research appears in the August issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The population-screening study included all infants born in four hospitals around Houston during a 15-month period. The research now has been expanded to 10 hospitals in Houston and South Texas. The screening they developed is based on newborn direct or conjugated bilirubin measurements, a common test available in newborn nurseries. In previous research, Harpavat and colleagues showed that direct or conjugated bilirubin levels are elevated in all newborns with biliary atresia. This finding was somewhat unexpected as many believe the disease starts in the first few weeks of life.

All of the infants in the study were screened, and those identified as having bilirubin concentration exceeding the 95th percentile were rescreened at or before their first well-child visit. A total of 11 infants retested positive at the median age of 14 days.

“This new study presents preliminary data on a novel method for screening for biliary atresia in newborns, and shows that the test is very accurate,” Harpavat said. “If confirmed in larger studies, our screening method might be used to screen every infant born in the United States for biliary atresia, similar to the way newborns are routinely screened for other diseases.”

Biliary atresia accounted for about 60 percent of liver transplants in infants less than one year of age from 2005 to 2014, so developing a screening that can reduce the need for liver transplants in infants is a significant advancement, he said.

Researchers worked closely with primary care pediatricians throughout the city during the study, offering guidance and education when a patient tested positive initially, Harpavat said. Physicians have used the information and incorporated it into their own practice to identify infants with biliary atresia earlier who were not part of the screening protocol. “This was an unanticipated and very welcome benefit of the work. The landscape of biliary atresia in Houston has changed dramatically since these changes were instituted,” Shneider said.

Others who contributed to this work include Texas Children’s neonatologist Dr. Joseph A. Garcia-Prats, who also is a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. Research was supported by the Cade R. Alpard Foundation for Pediatric Liver Disease, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Jan Albrecht Clinical and Translational Research Award and Baylor College of Medicine Junior Faculty Seed Award.

91416mattschaefer175Texas Children’s is pleased to announce that effective October 1 Vice President Matt Schaefer will be promoted to president of Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus.

Joining Texas Children’s in 2009, Schaefer has been part of the West Campus leadership team from its inception. Schaefer’s role during his tenure has progressed from one of strategic and financial planning, to business and support service leadership, to his current role as vice president of the West Campus.

“I have every confidence that Matt will do an outstanding job as president of West Campus, as we continue to grow that location and its significance in our integration of services across the Texas Children’s system,” Texas Children’s President and CEO Mark A. Wallace said.

Schaefer said he is humbled to serve the community in this new role. “As West Campus continues to grow,” he said, “our goal is to expand the services we provide to best meet the needs of the children and families we care for.”

Schaefer’s promotion comes after current West Campus President, Chanda Cashen Chacón, announced that she will be taking on the role of executive vice president and chief operating officer at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Chacón will be working with Marcy Doderer, president and chief executive officer of Arkansas Children’s, who was formerly with the CHRISTUS Children’s Hospital of San Antonio.

A 359-bed facility, Arkansas Children’s is building a new campus in northwest Arkansas, Arkansas Children’s Northwest, with the goal of developing a state-wide clinical network of care for pediatrics.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Chanda, and we wish her well in her new role at Arkansas Children’s,” Wallace said.

September 7, 2016

9716cdiff640Cody Knight was15 years old when he came down with a serious intestinal infection caused by the bacterium Clostridium difficile (C. diff). Despite antibiotic treatments, the infection kept coming back at least three times over a six-month period.

“My son lost 15 pounds and it took weeks for him to gain enough strength to do anything,” said his mother Holly Knight. “He missed the last week of school and never really got a chance to play freshman football due to his frequent bouts with vomiting and diarrhea. As a last resort, Cody received a fecal transplant two years ago at Texas Children’s which has improved his symptoms tremendously.”

To improve outcomes for C. diff patients like Cody, Texas Children’s Microbiome Research Center received a 5-year, $7.5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to accelerate a multi-center study to combat C. diff, the most common and potentially deadly bacterial infection impacting children and adults in the U.S.

C. diff, a bacterium that causes diarrhea and severe inflammation of the colon, is a hospital-acquired infection often associated with inappropriate antibiotic use. While antibiotics are used to treat infections in children and adults, they can also disrupt the natural communities of healthy bacteria in the gut, allowing C. diff to colonize and cause disease.

“C. diff is a disorder of microbial ecology,” said Dr. James Versalovic, pathologist-in-chief and director of Texas Children’s Microbiome Center. “Some patients are more susceptible to C. diff recurrence following treatment with antibiotics while other patients may struggle with infections due to drug-resistant bacteria including C. diff. These issues can pose enormous challenges to successfully treating these patients.”

At Texas Children’s Hospital and Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, our physicians are continuously challenged by many infectious agents and drug-resistant pathogens. Being at the leading edge of “big” discovery science requires a highly collaborative approach to uncover the causes of C. diff infection and drug resistance in children and women.

“This 5-year grant will accelerate our existing work in C. diff as it relates to the human microbiome,” said Dr. Tor Savidge, associate director of Texas Children’s Microbiome Center and principal investigator of this study. “Our long-term goal is to achieve a better understanding of why certain patients fail antibiotic treatment and which patients are more susceptible to recurrences in order to help us develop new methods to treat C. diff infection.”

Using a systems biology approach and the latest state-of-the-art technologies, Savidge and his team – including research partners at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas A&M University, University of Houston, and UCLA – will analyze the stool specimens of C. diff patients at Texas Children’s and compare it to specimens of healthy adults and children. These researchers, who form an integral part of the C. diff Gulf Coast Collaborative, will also examine the common threads and differences between adults and children with C. diff infection. A unique aspect of this study is the inclusion of infants who are not susceptible to this pathogen.

“Babies in their first year of life may be colonized during infancy by C. diff,” Versalovic said. “Their microbiome develops very early in life but infants may or may not respond to the toxins produced by C. diff. We have much to learn about the susceptibility of young children to C. diff disease. We know that the numbers of children infected with C. diff have expanded greatly in the past 15 years.”

This collaborative study is a direct result of the Precision Medicine Initiative led by President Barack Obama designed to equip clinicians with the necessary resources to determine which treatments will work best for which patients based on specific characteristics like human genetic makeup, or in this case, the bacterial composition of a patient’s microbiome.

Texas Children’s is uniquely positioned as the leading research site for this study. Besides the Department of Pathology’s diagnostic capabilities to test for C.diff in children and women, Texas Children’s Microbiome Center has partnered with Dr. Richard Kellermayer from the Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition section to offer fecal transplants as a treatment alternative for children with recurrent C. diff infection.

“It’s important for the medical community to be smarter about antibiotic use and its effects on the microbiome,” Savidge said. “I think some fundamental lessons will emerge in this 5-year study that will help us understand childhood infections and lifetime risk of serious infections further down the road.”

For Cody’s mom, she is grateful that Texas Children’s is leading this study and is hopeful that a cure for C. diff will one day be found.

“I met so many children and adults suffering with recurring C.diff when Cody was ill,” Knight said. “I support any research that can be done to prevent another child from being as sick as Cody was for such a long period of time.”

9716sskatiejones175Katie Jones of Infection Control is the latest Texas Children’s Super Star employee. “Working at Texas Children’s has afforded me the opportunity to grow as an educator and presenter, so that I can share my passion for infection control with health care providers and encourage them to be infection prevention advocates in their own areas,” Jones said. Read more of her interview below and find out how you can nominate a Super Star.

Your name, title and department. How long have you worked here?
Katie Jones, Infection Control Coordinator, Infection Control. I started working for Texas Children’s in July 2015.

What month are you Super Star for?
September 2016

Tell us how you found out you won a super star award.
I thought I was attending a regularly scheduled staff meeting, and at the last minute we changed rooms. When I arrived, I saw that leaders from quality and critical care nursing were at the table. They do not normally attend our regular weekly staff meetings. My manager said he had an announcement, it all felt very serious with our additional guests in attendance so I was a little worried at first – but then he announced that I had received the Super Star award! It was very surprising and flattering! It was so much fun to share that moment with my department and enjoy cake and punch with them.

What does it mean to be recognized for the hard work you do? How has the organization helped you achieve your personal and professional goals?
Everyone I encounter at Texas Children’s gives 110 percent of themselves every day, so it is really an honor to be selected. Working at Texas Children’s has afforded me the opportunity to grow as an educator and presenter, so that I can share my passion for infection control with health care providers and encourage them to be infection prevention advocates in their own areas.

What do you think makes someone at Texas Children’s a super star?
Coming to work every day ready to say “yes” to any challenge.

What is your motivation for going above and beyond every day at work?
I believe there is a patient advocacy element to everyone’s job in a health care environment – even if you don’t provide direct patient care. I love that by working in Infection Control, I have an opportunity to play a role in the development and implementation of initiatives that can protect our patients and help Texas Children’s continue to be a leader in patient care, research, and education.

What is the best thing about working at Texas Children’s?
I am inspired every day by the passion exhibited by our frontline health care workers and my fellow infection control team members. We are all very supportive of each other and one person’s success is a victory for the whole team.

What does it mean to you that everyone at Texas Children’s is considered a leader? What is your leadership definition?
Leaders identify themselves by their actions, not their job title. By encouraging everyone to put our patients and their families first, the behavior that makes someone a leader in their own role is naturally supported.

Anything else you want to share?
I want to thank the Shannon Holland and the PICU team for nominating me for this award. It is truly a privilege to work with them.

9716singlevisitsurgery640Patients with simple surgery needs can now be seen in clinic by pediatric surgeons and have surgery on the same day at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus. The hospital’s new Single-Visit Surgery program provides a convenient option for busy patient families and consists of a clinic appointment in the morning and, if necessary, an outpatient surgical procedure that same day.

“This program reduces the time and travel often necessary for families in need of pediatric surgery,” said pediatric surgeon Dr. Sohail Shah. “We are excited about being able to offer this highly accessible service to our patients and their families.”

Currently, patients who qualify for the program are children without a complicated medical history and who have the following conditions:

  • Umbilical hernia (3 years and older)
  • Inguinal hernia (12 months and older)
  • Hydrocele (12 months and older)
  • Epigastric hernia (any age)

“All of our lives are busy, and overscheduled parents are thrilled to accomplish what used to take two days in only one. The families who have to travel to Texas Children’s Hospital from far away are especially appreciative,” said Chief Surgical Officer at the West Campus Dr. Allen Milewicz. “All the members of our West Campus team came together – nurses, schedulers, finance, and administration, to – craft a process improvement that would result in a great patient experience.”

To schedule an appointment or if you have questions about the Single-Visit Surgery program, please contact the Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus Pediatric Surgery Clinic at Ext. 7-2250.

August 23, 2016

82416thorasicsurgeryinside640Texas Children’s Hospital’s congenital heart surgery program recently earned a three star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), the highest possible distinction.

Star ratings are based on the STS Congenital Heart Surgery Database (CHSD) mortality risk model. One hundred and seventeen congenital heart surgery programs nationwide participated in the Spring 2016 STS CHSD Feedback Report. Texas Children’s is among only eight hospitals in the U.S. to earn a three star rating.

“We are honored to be recognized for our outcomes, which are among the best in the nation,” said Dr. Charles D. Fraser Jr., surgeon-in-chief and chief of congenital heart surgery. “Since 1995, our congenital heart surgery program has carefully tracked patient outcomes and continues to be committed to transparency. Information about our performance is a driver of innovation and critical to elevating the quality of care we provide to our patients every day.”

Texas Children’s Heart Center is comprised of an expert team of congenital heart surgeons, pediatric cardiologists, pediatric cardiovascular anesthesiologists and pediatric critical care physicians, among others. In 2015, Texas Children’s congenital heart surgery program’s overall risk-adjusted mortality rate was 1.6 percent, well below the STS national benchmark of 2.9 percent. Outcomes for atrial septal defect repairs, ventricular septal defect repairs, atrioventricular canal repairs, tetralogy of Fallot repairs and arterial switch operations were also below STS national benchmarks last year.

Texas Children’s is ranked No. 2 nationally in cardiology and heart surgery by U.S. News & World Report. To learn more about Texas Children’s Heart Center outcomes visit the website. For more information about STS Congenital Heart Surgery Public Reporting click here.