US Acute Care Solutions Launches Enhanced Pediatric Readiness Initiative Nationwide

CANTON, Ohio, August 28, 2025 – US Acute Care Solutions (USACS), the nation’s largest physician-owned emergency and inpatient medicine practice, provides emergency medicine services to more than 400 programs nationwide. While several of our partner sites are either children’s hospitals or have a dedicated pediatric department within their adult emergency department (ED), the vast majority do not offer pediatric-specific services. Recognizing the critical need to provide exceptional care to every patient population, we elected to launch an enhanced pediatric readiness initiative across our practice. 

Annually, approximately 30 million children visit the ED throughout the nation, and nearly 85% of those visits occur in community EDs_1,2. At USACS, we see over 1 million pediatric ED visits each year across our sites. The Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) Program developed the National Pediatric Readiness Project (NPRP) to support community EDs. The NPRP empowers all EDs to improve their capability to provide high-quality care for children, more widely recognized as being “pediatric ready.” An evidence-based checklist, endorsed by all major professional organizations, was created to establish a baseline for what every community hospital should have in place to be optimally prepared to care for pediatric patients.

“Our national practice recognized the need to continually improve pediatric care—after all, we see more kids in our group than almost anyone in the country,” noted Amer Aldeen, MD, Chief Medical Officer for USACS. “That’s why we added pediatric readiness as one of our national quality goals—everyone at USACS plays their part in taking better care of kids.”

Leading our practice’s nationwide initiative that coincides with the NPRP is our National Director of Pediatric Services, Sujit Iyer, MD. 

“As a pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) physician, I am extremely passionate about this initiative,” said Dr. Iyer. “I want every physician and APP in our practice to feel confident that they have the resources and support they need to provide life-saving care to our youngest patient population. Research has shown that investing in pediatric readiness can reduce pediatric mortality by 75%, and we have the incredible opportunity to play a role in saving lives of children across the nation.”

In 2023, we began requiring every ED where our emergency medicine services are provided to annually complete the Pediatric Readiness Assessment. Although completing the assessment proved to be a great starting point, it was evident that additional efforts were needed to drive meaningful and consistent improvements in how we uniformly care for pediatric patients. To further strengthen the initiative, this year we committed to ensuring that every ED has a designated pediatric champion on staff. 

“When this initiative was first launched, approximately 17% of our EDs scored 88 or better on the Pediatric Readiness Assessment, which mirrored the national average,” said Dr. Iyer. “To date, over 65% of our sites have scored above 88, a significant accomplishment in such a short timeframe. I am confident that this number will continue to rise as our pediatric champions are identified at every ED. They will play a vital role in our ongoing efforts to both reach and sustain high pediatric readiness scores. Our ultimate goal is to have 100% of our sites score above 88, which is the category of top performing EDs, and the mark proven to reduce mortality and injury risk in children.” 

Additionally, our focus on creating pediatric-specific education and developing easily accessible educational resources has been instrumental in helping any site that is on the cusp of reaching their pediatric readiness score of 88 and above address the areas on the checklist where there is room for improvement. 

“Accountability is where I believe our strength as a practice lies as we navigate the pediatric readiness initiative for the long-term,” said Dr. Iyer. “My role is to listen to the specific needs of each ED, determine our next steps to address these needs, and work with the other incredible leaders in our practice, from the Regional Vice Presidents to our National Quality Directors, to streamline our efforts and efficiently disseminate the resources we create together.”

As summer comes to a close and school-aged children return to their academic routines, our practice remains committed to providing peace of mind to the communities we serve, assuring them that our EDs are equipped, and our teams are exceptionally prepared to care for their youngest members.

About USACS
Founded by emergency medicine and inpatient physicians across the country, USACS is solely owned by its physicians and hospital system partners. The group is a national leader in integrated acute care, including emergency, hospital, and critical care medicine services. USACS provides high-quality care to approximately 11 million patients annually across more than 400 programs and is aligned with many of the leading health systems in the country. Visit usacs.com for more.

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Media Contact
Marty Richmond
Corporate Communications Department
US Acute Care Solutions
330.493.4443 x1406
[email protected]

References

• Remick, K., Gausche-Hill, M., Joseph, M. M., Brown, K., Snow, S. K., Wright, J. L., AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS, Committee on Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Section on Surgery, AMERICAN COLLEGE OF EMERGENCY PHYSICIANS, Pediatric Emergency Medicine Committee, EMERGENCY NURSES ASSOCIATION, Pediatric Committee, Pediatric Readiness in the Emergency Department, POLICY STATEMENT, & Organizational Principles to Guide and Define the Child Health Care System and/or Improve the Health of All Children (2018). Pediatric Readiness in the Emergency Department. Annals of emergency medicine, 72(6), e123–e136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2018.08.431
• Goto, T., Hasegawa, K., Faridi, M. K., Sullivan, A. F., & Camargo, C. A., Jr (2017). Emergency Department Utilization by Children in the USA, 2010-2011. The western journal of emergency medicine, 18(6), 1042–1046. https://doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2017.7.33723