CareSource Indiana partners with Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital to establish Pediatric Nurse Navigation Program

CareSource, a nationally recognized managed care organization, announced a gift of $1,000,000 for the Pediatric Nurse Navigation Program at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent. This gift was announced following a beam signing with Peyton Manning, Care for Tomorrow Campaign Chairman, marking a milestone in the construction of the Women and Children’s Tower at Ascension St. Vincent.

The new program was created to help families with pediatric patients have a single point of contact to navigate them through health care systems. Services each nurse navigator can provide include scheduling appointments, offering patient and family education, directing families to community resources and being a liaison between the hospital and private practices.

“Investing in institutions like Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital represents a fundamental piece of CareSource's larger efforts to decrease infant and maternal mortality,” said Steve Smitherman, president of CareSource Indiana. “The health care system can be difficult to navigate, especially for moms and babies experiencing complex health conditions. This Pediatric Nurse Navigation program will be a central point to ensure moms and babies are getting the care they need, when they need it.”

The program coincides with the development of the new Women and Children’s Tower, attached to the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital, which is expected to be complete by 2024. As Indiana has among the highest rates of infant and maternal mortality, these initiatives are necessary to improve outcomes for mothers and children, especially those with complex health conditions.

“Patient navigation is growing within the health care sector, and makes a huge difference for families who have children with multiple chronic conditions,” says Meg Zakrzewski, Vice President of Pediatric Services at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent. “Not only will the program provide medical navigation, but also social and emotional navigation that is crucial for families and central to our mission of spiritually-centered, holistic care for all patients.”

Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent (PMCH), part of Ascension, one of the nation’s leading non-profit and Catholic health systems, is a full-service, dedicated children’s medical center providing the highest quality care to children in the state of Indiana and beyond. PMCH is staffed by more than 250 world-class pediatric specialists with a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to family-focused care. PMCH has more than 160 licensed beds which includes a 15-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, a 17-bed Pediatric Emergency Department, and a 97-bed Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, providing the highest level of acute care as established by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It is also a Level 1 Children’s Surgery Center from the American College of Surgeons, and is the only neurosurgery program in Indiana designated with The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for Brain Tumor Care. The Pediatric Burn Center is a regional burn center for Indiana, equipped to deliver care for minor and life-threatening burns, including skin grafts, surgery, and scar management. The hospital offers 24-hour on-site coverage by pediatric hospitalists, intensivists, neonatologists, and board-certified emergency physicians, and provides safe and streamlined critical care transport by ambulance and air. Visit www.getpeytonmanningcare.com.