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Clinical Conversations Deliver Healthy NICU Outcomes

When I joined ProgenyHealth as a Medical Director, one of the aspects of the job that I found most appealing was the ability to do meaningful outreach with other neonatologists across the country. Having taken care of many medically complex babies as an attending physician in a NICU for over eight years, I believe I have a good understanding of what physicians in the community are going through and the challenges they are facing.

One of the best opportunities for engaging with these physicians comes when ProgenyHealth partners with a new client. This provides a chance to connect with physicians and discuss how their practice patterns can synergize with ProgenyHealth’s best practices and clinical guidelines to improve patient outcomes. These physician-to-physician discussions form a solid foundation from which trust and working relationships are established.

An illustration of this collegial dialogue occurs regularly regarding how to wean babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) off their medication. Although the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has no explicit guidelines for medication weaning, ProgenyHealth’s experience with NAS cases has allowed us to develop both weaning best practice recommendations, as well as minimum recommended medication doses which we share with the physicians responsible for delivering care to the baby.

Since joining ProgenyHealth, I have proactively reached out to neonatologists and pediatricians in a variety of different hospitals throughout the country who have been struggling with this issue. In the context of collegiality and partnership, I have shared our best practices with them while discussing their current practices. With mutual respect and a common goal, we have worked together to promote quality care and reduce lengths of stay for these medically fragile babies.

These sorts of dialogues are amongst the most efficient and enjoyable moments that I have had as a Medical Director at ProgenyHealth. We are in a truly unique position to offer productive conversations between clinical colleagues that can lead to evidence-based medical solutions, impactful changes, and improved outcomes for clients, hospitals, and, most importantly, the babies.

Watch us discuss the development of our NAS management best practices here and be sure to subscribe to our NICU Insights blog to receive our latest posts.

Dr. Andrew Meyer is Lead Medical Director at ProgenyHealth 

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