According to recent research out of UNLV’s Lincy Institute, Las Vegas is the only metropolitan area in the United States with more than two million people to not have a full-service children’s hospital.
Further exacerbating the deficient childhood healthcare landscape is the fact that Nevada continues to have one of the worst pediatrician-to-patient ratios in the nation, at one pediatrician per 2,531 children under 18 — twice the ratio of California.
As a result, 1,500 kids are forced to travel out of state each year. Their parents, healthcare advocates, and physicians have been sounding the alarm for decades.
Next year, these calls for change might finally be coming to fruition.
On October 22, Intermountain Health announced that it would start construction on a comprehensive pediatric hospital in 2025. Situated within UNLV’s Harry Reid Research and Technology Park in southwest Las Vegas, the freestanding facility is projected to open sometime in 2030.
Lawrence “Larry” Barnard is Intermountain Health’s Assistant Vice President of Pediatrics for the Desert Region. In the two years he’s been with the nonprofit, he said there’s been continuous discussion of bringing a freestanding children’s hospital to Las Vegas, but no definitive movement.
However, changes to Medicaid dollar allocation at the state and federal level have suddenly made the project financially feasible.
“It’s about $800 million that'll come back to all of healthcare in the state of Nevada, and a portion of that will go towards the children's hospital,” he said. “In the past, the Medicaid rates have not made a freestanding children's hospital really that viable.”
That funding will be important, as construction is projected to cost an estimated $1 billion, according to the Lincy Instutute study. Yet, the same data also indicated that the roughly 150-bed hospital will contribute over $1 billion and nearly 6,000 jobs to the local economy each year.
Beyond the expected economic implications, Barnard also noted that a comprehensive “anchor” facility like Intermountain Health’s will be able to attract — and help train — pediatric subspecialists.
“We want to incorporate all of the training programs in Nevada to do that. So, this is an opportunity for not just UNLV, but also UNR, Roseman, Touro to really use this as a training institution.”
Once completed, Intermountain Health plans to offer a number of services within the hospital, including pediatric cardiology, oncology, neurosurgery, and orthopedics, among others.
Guest: Lawrence "Larry" Barnard, assistant vice president of pediatrics — desert region, Intermountain Health
