Hospital Beds for the Nation’s Sickest Kids Are Disappearing

Hospital units dedicated to treating the nation’s sickest kids are disappearing nationwide. In the past year alone, hospitals have closed pediatric intensive care units for critically ill kids in Montana, Oregon, and Missouri. Overnight hospital wings for kids have also shuttered in Illinois and California. Depending on the hospital, pediatric units — which are separate from neonatal intensive care units — can serve patients ranging from a few weeks old to well into their teens or early adulthood. As hospitals look to cut costs, many are converting those beds into more services for newborns or adults. As a result, pediatric intensive care has become centralized in medical hubs, requiring critically ill children to travel farther for lifesaving care. “You can’t expect that people will be fine if the next-closest children’s hospital is a flight away or an eight-hour drive,” said Elizabeth Mack, a pediatric critical care doctor and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Hospitals cutting pediatric care tend to cite low patient volumes; it’s relatively rare for a child to need intensive care. It’s also hard to find doctors to treat those rare cases because the nation is s...