The trend in pediatric care over the last five years is for pediatricians to be primarily office based in their scope of practice. In Rhode Island, for example, the majority of pediatricians no longer see patients at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. Care of hospitalized children is now being done by hospital based pediatricians known as hospitalists. The present trend in Rhode Island is for pediatricians to transfer care of newborns also to pediatric hospitalists. Therefore, as of January 1, 2018, we have decided as a practice that we will no longer round at Women and Infants Hospital. We are, however, still accepting newborns to the practice. Any infant born at Women and Infants or other area hospital will be cared for by their very capable pediatric hospitalist until discharge. At the time of discharge, families choosing Lincoln Pediatrics will be advised by the hospitalist when to make the initial follow-up appointment. Simply call our office at the time of discharge to arrange for your baby’s first appointment with us.

Though there are many factors that went into this decision. The primary one was to provide greater physician availability in our office for appointments. This decision will increase our physician availability by an average of 12 hours per week. It has always been our goal as a practice to provide timely and flexible appointments for our patients. We hope that in making this decision, we can continue to be the kind of practice we aspire to be and the kind of practice our patients deserve. We appreciate your  support and understanding in this difficult decision.

Sincerely,

LPA