A group of neonatologists who have cared for newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Akron Children’s Hospital for decades will no longer work with the hospital system starting next March.
The hospital is ending its service contract with Pediatrix Medical Group in fewer than six months, said Akron Children’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert McGregor.
Neonatologists employed by Pediatrix (formerly MEDNAX Inc.) are contracted to serve Akron Children’s NICU, McGregor said. Nine doctors are listed on Pediatrix’s website as representing Pediatrix Neonatology of Ohio at Akron and servicing Akron Children’s NICU.
“There’s lots of things that have worked well over the years, and we are at a different inflection point,” McGregor said. “So, we’re going to move on to a different model.”
McGregor said it's a "business decision" and "not targeted at any individual docs."
Attempts to reach Pediatrix via a main phone line for the company and through emails to a general inbox for its communications team were not returned.
Akron Children's main campus NICU is in the Kay Jewelers Pavilion. The hospital system's website lists eight other locations across Northeast Ohio as either having NICUs or special care nurseries that Akron Children's services. The bulk of the doctors listed on Pediatrix's website as being part of Pediatrix Neonatology of Ohio at Akron are listed on Akron Children's website as working at Akron Children's main campus, though some are also listed as servicing Akron Children's NICU at Cleveland Clinic Akron General and Akron Children's NICU at Summa Health.
The special care nursery at birthing hospitals is a step between the regular nursery and the NICU at Children's Hospital for premature babies and others needing specialized care.
Dr. Anand Kantak, one of the doctors listed on Pediatrix’s site as being employed by Pediatrix, has been providing his neonatology expertise to Akron Children's for several decades. A 1983 Beacon Journal article cited him as a neonatologist and director of the hospital system’s Apnea Evaluation and SIDS Counseling Program at that time. By 1993, he was director of Akron Children’s NICU, according to a separate story in the Beacon Journal archives.
Dr. Jennifer Grow, another doctor listed on Pediatrix’s site as being employed by Pediatrix, completed an internship and residency at Akron Children’s in 1999, according to Pediatrix’s site . By January 2003, according to Beacon Journal archives, she was servicing the hospital through Akron Neonatology Inc.
Pediatrix completed an acquisition of Akron Neonatology Inc. in 2008, according to a South Florida Business Journal article from that year that listed Kantak as "Pediatrix's medical director in Akron." Pediatrix’s national headquarters are in Sunrise in southern Florida.
McGregor said he anticipates Akron Children’s will hire neonatologists directly. Board-certified neonatologists already work in the hospital system in other capacities, he said.
Akron Children’s website lists 24 neonatologists as servicing the hospital system, including seven of the doctors listed on the Pediatrix Neonatology of Ohio at Akron site as working at the hospital system.
Dr. Marya Strand joined as the department head on July 31, 2023, according to Akron Children's website .
When asked if the Pediatrix-employed doctors could return to the hospital system in another capacity, McGregor said he is not aware of the details of their employment contracts with Pediatrix.
Overall, McGregor said: “I just think that people need to know that our ongoing care of children that require a NICU will be in good shape. We expect the relationship with MEDNAX will result in a seamless transition to new providers.”
Rod Ingram, Akron Children's vice president of marketing and communications, via email, declined further comment beyond what McGregor shared. Ingram cited the confidentiality of the business agreement in declining to comment further.
Cleveland Clinic Akron General to staff its NICU with its own doctors
Akron Children’s website lists three doctors as servicing Akron Children's NICU at Summa Health and the same three doctors as servicing Akron Children's NICU at Cleveland Clinic Akron General . They are Drs. Grow, Kantak and Alison Protain, who is also listed on Pediatrix’s site as a neonatologist of Pediatrix Neonatology of Ohio at Akron.
Pediatrix web pages for individual doctors listed as representing Pediatrix Neonatology of Ohio at Akron also state that Pediatrix Neonatology of Ohio at Akron services Summa Health and Cleveland Clinic Akron General.
However, Cleveland Clinic Children’s plans to solely staff its Akron General NICU with its own doctors beginning Nov. 1, said Dr. Rita Pappas, interim chief of Cleveland Clinic Children’s.
“We’re uniquely positioned to take care of babies before they're born, through their childhood and into adulthood,” Pappas said.
“That's what makes us different compared to other hospitals," she said. "So, it's within one health system that you can have all your care."
Dr. Brian Harte, Cleveland Clinic Akron General’s president, declined to discuss Pediatrix’s contract with Akron Children’s.
“In the current arrangement, it is Akron Children's that provides the physicians,” Harte said of the relationship between Akron Children’s and Cleveland Clinic Akron General as it pertains to the NICUs.
A spokeswoman for Summa Health said through email: “Summa Health is not involved in contract discussions between Akron Children's and MedNax therefore we don’t have any additional information on those discussions. We have a longstanding relationship with Akron Children's providing NICU services at Summa Health and we look forward to that continuing into the future.”
Patrick Williams covers growth and development for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at pwilliams@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @pwilliamsOH.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron Children's to end contract with doctors who care for NICU babies
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