CHOP doctors to work in South Jersey hospitals

Doctors from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia will soon be treating kids in two hospitals in South Jersey. On Feb. 1, CHOP doctors will begin work in the emergency room and intensive care units at Virtua’s Mount Holly and Voorhees hospitals.

Children’s Hospital CEO Steven Altschuler said the partnership is part of a larger effort to provide top-notch specialty care in community hospitals around the region.

“It’s our belief that the CHOP main campus should really be utilized for the most acutely ill and complex patients,” Altschuler said. “Everything else we should try to do at the community level.”

Children’s Hospital has similar partnerships with hospitals around the Delaware Valley, including Abington, Doylestown and West Chester. CHOP doctors will also be working in a new Virtua hospital set to open in Voorhees this spring, and an outpatient facility to open next year. Altschuler said the network will eventually be Children’s Hospital’s largest suburban partnership.

Rich Miller, CEO of Virtua, said the arrangement should give parents peace of mind when they send their kids to the closest hospital.

“To know that you have the subspecialty care and the specialty care on site to care for your kids, you won’t be apprehensive taking your kids to a local community hospital,” Miller said.