Shriner Magazine - Summer 2023

System Update Healthcare

A Vision and Mission for Today and Tomorrow

Everyone connected with Shriners Children’s should be proud to be associated with our unique healthcare system.

WE HAVE KEPT OUR PROMISE to improve the lives of children and families – to provide medical care regardless of their ability to pay, to conduct innovative research to improve that care, and to offer education opportunities for medical professionals – for 100 years. Throughout that time, we adapted and developed treat ment techniques and procedures to best serve our patients and, ultimately, became recognized the world over as a leader in pediatric specialty care. As we begin our second century, these principles con tinue to guide us. We have several initiatives in place to ensure we deliver care as efficiently and effectively as pos sible, and reach the children and families who need us, regardless of where they live. Expanding Access We continue to implement Vision 2035, our long-range plan for patient care in the U.S. We intend to offer 200 access points to care through our facilities, secondary loca tions, domestic outreach efforts and clinics, telehealth opportunities and community affiliations. Eight of our hospitals have successfully completed the complicated transition to alternative care delivery models, including ambulatory surgery centers and outpatient and outreach clinics. These adaptations require a significant amount of time, meticulous planning and systematic implementation; while it may appear that we are moving slowly, we have made significant progress. In addition, we are focused on increasing our efforts and presence in Canada and Mexico. We need to reach more children in these countries. Creating an effective overall plan for Canada is extremely complicated and difficult.

We have a strong, advantageous partial reimbursement agreement with the provincial government of Quebec, includ ing payment for treating children from outside Quebec at our hospital in Montreal. Still, we cannot expect to adequately reach children from across such a vast country from our single location in Canada. We need to find ways to extend that relationship and develop local affiliations and other opportunities. We are aware that our 11 temples in Canada are committed to the concept of caring for kids closer to their homes, and we are working diligently to achieve this through establishing local collaborative efforts and affiliations with other pediatric healthcare providers. The first step in this process is communication and discussion, which is under way. We hope to have more to report in the not-too-distant future.

8

SHRINER MAGAZINE: PRIDE AND TRADITION