“Our network of pediatricians and
family practice physicians is an important
link that allows us to care for children to the
best of our ability,” says M. Reddy Beeram,
MD, physician-in-chief at the Children’s
Hospital Scott & White and interim
chairman, Department of Pediatrics at
Scott & White Healthcare. “We also want
parents to know we’re committed to
communicating with them as well, and
making sure their input is heard.”
A primary relationship
A family practice physician or pediatrician
is usually a person to whom a child and
family can turn, since that doctor typically
follows the child from birth through
puberty and into adolescence. “Primary
care pediatricians are often trusted people,
because we have an ongoing relationship
with families,” says Robert E. Burke, MD,
PhD, a pediatrician and vice chairman of
the Department of Pediatrics at Scott &
White Healthcare. He knows his patients’
family histories, and any medical issues a
child’s siblings may have encountered. He
also has a reference point for each and every
patient visit.
Primary care physicians know when to
consult a pediatric specialist for their
patient’s care, and they will recommend a
particular specialist according to the needs
of that patient. Sometimes parents already
have a pediatric specialist in mind that
they’d like their child to see, but it can be
difficult for many parents to know how to
select a specialist within a complex
healthcare system. So Scott & White tries
to make it easy for parents with a simple
referral process. This also helps keep costs
down by eliminating extra care and making
sure patients are directed to appropriate
specialists in an efficient manner.
“When primary care pediatricians
request a referral, we might need help
making a diagnosis or providing a level of
care that surpasses our own training. It
doesn’t make sense for a patient not to take
advantage of all that expertise,” says
Dr. Burke. “The role of the pediatrician or
family physician is to look at the whole
picture, and that can include pulling in
other members of the pediatric team.”
He continues, “A patient can capitalize
on the expertise of a specialist, and on the
expertise of the generalist, who often
knows the family better. No one does this
better than we do at Scott & White. We
offer leading-edge care to our pediatric
patients. The transfer of that care between
specialists and primary care pediatricians is
pretty seamless,” he says.
In his practice as a pediatrician at Scott
& White, Dr. Burke refers almost 10
percent of his patients to specialists. These
referrals might be for short-term issues, like
a hernia that requires a single surgery, or for
long-term issues, such as diabetes, which
requires a child to see an endocrinologist, a
diabetes specialist, several times each year
but still see her pediatrician for annual
physicals or for other medical concerns that
might arise, such as colds and earaches. Or
a child with a complex condition may need
to see several specialists. A child with
cerebral palsy, for example, needs to be
under the care of a physical therapist to
help develop physical skills, a neurologist to
monitor any brain deficits related to the
condition, and an orthopedist to help
diagnose and treat abnormal bone and
muscle conditions.
Links to physicians throughout
the region
Hundreds of primary care pediatricians
and family practice physicians—both
private practice physicians and those who
are affiliated with Scott & White
Healthcare—refer their young patients to
the Children’s Hospital Scott & White. It’s
“Our network of pediatricians
and family practice physicians
is an important link that
allows us to care for children
to the best of our ability.”
—M. Reddy Beeram, MD
sw.org | Fall 11 THE CATALYST
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