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Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Mount Sinai Health System Mark Milestone in Fetal Medicine and Children’s Heart Programs

Leaders open facility making innovative treatments available to New York families

Newswise — (New York – May 31, 2017) –– Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Mount Sinai Health System took another step forward today in their 18-month-old alliance with the official opening of their Fetal Medicine Program and the affiliation of the Mount Sinai Children’s Heart Center with the Cardiac Center at CHOP. 

Officials from both hospitals participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony held today at the new facility at The Mount Sinai Hospital’s Annenberg Building. 

The Fetal Medicine Program will offer access to an unprecedented scope of services. This program provides mothers carrying fetuses at risk for or identified with possible anomalies a “one-stop experience” that includes a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation and consultation. Specifically, in a single-day visit, the patient will undergo state-of-the-art diagnostic testing, which may include ultrasound, echocardiography, and fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and then meet with a team of Mount Sinai and CHOP experts to discuss the presumptive diagnosis and options for treatment. All diagnostic testing will be performed at The Mount Sinai Hospital; images will be read by specialists in fetal radiology at CHOP and Mount Sinai in coordination with Mount Sinai maternal fetal medicine specialists using telemedicine video links. Once the diagnostics are reviewed, and depending on the presumptive diagnosis, a conference with each patient and her family may include a maternal fetal medicine specialist, pediatric cardiologist, pediatric surgeon, geneticist, and other relevant pediatric subspecialists. CHOP subspecialists will participate in these family meetings by video conferencing. The program is the only one in New York City offering such convenience and level of services. 

The new affiliation of the Mount Sinai Children’s Heart Center and the CHOP Cardiac Center brings to New York access to unparalleled expertise and resources from one of the nation’s leading pediatric cardiac centers. The affiliation includes the Fetal Heart Program, which aims to diagnose congenital heart disease as early as 12-14 weeks gestation utilizing fetal echocardiography. The results of the fetal imaging can then allow the clinical care team, comprising providers at Mount Sinai and CHOP collaborating via telemedicine technology, to develop an optimal plan for care. The Children’s Heart Center at Mount Sinai Hospital—overseen by the Divisions of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgeryprovides a continuum of care from fetal through adult life, and will now have access to the expertise of CHOP’s Cardiac Center in areas such as pediatric cardiac intensive care and pediatric cardiothoracic surgery. The Children’s Heart Center offers exceptional pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgical services, including echocardiography, exercise testing, Holter monitoring, interventional cardiology and angiography, and cardiovascular genetics. The Mount Sinai and CHOP teams can provide joint expertise at all points of treatment through direct consultation and use of telehealth technology. 

The alliance between Mount Sinai and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was announced in the fall of 2015, and includes three services: fetal medicine, pediatric cardiac care, and pediatric oncology. This collaboration is intended to give patients and their families access to the most advanced diagnostics and treatments delivered by Mount Sinai and CHOP experts close to home at select Mount Sinai locations. 

“Mount Sinai is pleased to collaborate with CHOP, a world-renowned institution, to ensure excellent patient care," said Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System.  "Our goal is to offer the highest quality maternal, fetal, and pediatric care to patients—especially those with complex needs—across a large health system and a fast-growing ambulatory care network. And together, we will be uniquely positioned to recruit and retain the best faculty in the region."

“CHOP is pleased to mark this milestone in the relationship between two health care institutions that are totally dedicated to caring for the health of children and their families,” said Madeline Bell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “The alliance with the Mount Sinai Health System continues to evolve and reflects both a shared vision to better serve families in the New York region and a mutual professional respect and admiration between our organizations,” Bell said.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is an integrated health system committed to providing distinguished care, conducting transformative research, and advancing biomedical education. Structured around seven hospital campuses and a single medical school, the Health System has an extensive ambulatory network and a range of inpatient and outpatient services—from community-based facilities to tertiary and quaternary care.

The System includes approximately 7,100 primary and specialty care physicians; 12 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. Physicians are affiliated with the renowned Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is ranked among the highest in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding per investigator. The Mount Sinai Hospital is in the “Honor Roll” of best hospitals in America, ranked No. 15 nationally in the 2016-2017 “Best Hospitals” issue of U.S. News & World Report.  The Mount Sinai Hospital is also ranked as one of the nation’s top 20 hospitals in Geriatrics, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Nephrology, Neurology/Neurosurgery, and Ear, Nose & Throat, and is in the top 50 in four other specialties. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 10 nationally for Ophthalmology, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's, and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally. Mount Sinai’s Kravis Children’s Hospital is ranked in seven out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report in "Best Children's Hospitals."

For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/, or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

About The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation’s first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children’s Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 546-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit www.chop.edu.

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