E-News for Referring Offices

Endocrinology Spotlight - Referral Tips

The endocrinology team at Children's of Alabama developed some tips for referrals to facilitate scheduling. View their information here and click below to download the file.

Children's of Alabama Named Among Nation's Top Employers

Children’s of Alabama has been named among “America’s Best Employers” in Forbes magazine, which recently released its 2023 list of America’s Best Employers By State. Children’s is one of only four hospitals and health systems in Alabama and 270 hospitals and health systems in the U.S. to make the list.

Forbes partnered with statistics firm Statista to compile data from a survey of more than 70,000 U.S. employees. Survey participants were asked if they would recommend their employer to a potential new hire, based on working conditions, diversity, compensation packages, potential for development and company image. Additionally, they were asked their views about other companies in their industry. Employees were contacted online without the involvement of their employers, and respondents represented the U.S. workforce by gender, age, region, education and ethnicity. Responses were submitted anonymously.

“We are very pleased that Children’s has been included in this prestigious national list. Our employees are key to the successful healthcare outcomes for our patients,” said Tom Shufflebarger, president and CEO. “Their knowledge, commitment to quality outcomes and compassionate care for our patients help us to fulfill our mission every day.”

APIC ToxUpdate

Visit the link below to view the Alabama Poison Information Center's January 2024 newsletter.

APIC ToxUpdate

Rare Disease Symposium Registration Now Open

Mark your calendar for the 11th Annual Rare Disease Symposium, taking place Thursday, February 29 and Friday, March 1, 2024 at the Bradley Lecture Center at Children's of Alabama!

This will be a Hybrid Event, with both an in-Person and Zoom option.

A “STEP” Towards Successful Transition

STEP Program Event (Staging Transition for Every Patient)

DATE

Saturday, April 12, 2024

TIME

8:30-9:45 a.m. – Vendor Expo

9:45 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. – Conference

LOCATION

United Ability’s LINCPoint

Adult Program Building

101 Oslo Circle

Birmingham, AL 35211

COST

$0 — Volunteers

$15 — Individuals

$25— Families

$50— Professionals seeking CEUs

National Doctor's Day Celebration Set for March 12

In honor of National Doctor's Day taking place March 30, Children's of Alabama will honor its physicians in a celebration on Tuesday, March 12. Children's of Alabama physicians will receive a treat and gift in recognition of all they do to serve children across Alabama.

Live Accredited Continuing Education Opportunities

Visit the link below for live Accredited Continuing Education opportunities,

updated weekly with registration links for Grand Rounds.

View Link

Children's Happenings

In the month of December, there were many holiday happenings at Children's of Alabama,

including a visit from several Birmingham Bowl football players and our annual Sugar Plum Shop!

Troy and Duke football players took time to visit

Children's patients and their families before playing

in the Birmingham Bowl.

Sugar Plum Shop allows Children's patient families

to shop for donated gifts inside the hospital.

2023-2025 Directory of Pediatric Services

Children's of Alabama has recently updated its new Directory of Pediatric Services for 2023-2025! Copies were mailed the week of Nov. 13. Click the photo to the right to access the digital version!

To request copies of the directory, please email Emily.Whitmire@childrensal.org.

Updated Hearing and Speech Referral Form

Children's of Alabama's Hearing and Speech department has updated their referral form for referrals that need to be faxed. View the new form below.

View Form

Check Out the Latest PedsCast

The Children’s of Alabama PedsCast is a pediatric sub-specialist peer-to-peer podcast focused on research, innovative programs and advances in pediatric health care at Children’s of Alabama. Featured speakers include physicians, surgeons, clinical specialists and other experts in the field of pediatrics.

Click the graphics below to hear the latest PedsCast episodes.

Berdon Award Winner

Fabricio Goncalves, M.D., a pediatric neuroradiologist at Children’s of Alabama, was recently honored by the Society for Pediatric Radiology with the Walter E. Berdon Award for the Best Clinical Research Paper.

The paper, which appeared in Pediatric Radiology in 2022, investigated the role of apparent diffusion coefficient histogram metrics for differentiating pediatric medulloblastoma histological variants and molecular groups.

Congratulations, Dr. Goncalves!

Children's of Alabama Welcomes New Physicians

Children's is proud to welcome new physicians to its staff. Callie Grey, M.D., Andrew Watson, M.D. and

Kyle Deville, M.D. (left to right) all joined Children's in August 2023.

Children's of Alabama Board of Trustees

Elects New Medical Staff President

As of January 1, 2024, Mike Chen, M.D., MBA, has assumed the role of President of the Medical Staff at Children’s of Alabama. Chen currently serves as surgeon-in-chief. He is also the Director of the Division of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. As president, he will represent the interests of the hospital’s physicians and medical personnel. He will also serve as a liaison between the medical staff, the hospital executive leadership, and the Board of Trustees.

Chen attended the University of Texas and UT Health Sciences Center in Houston. He trained in general surgery at the University of Florida. He completed fellowships in Transplantation and then Pediatric Surgery. He was recruited to UAB in September of 2009. He focuses on providing the best clinical care possible for infants and children. Dr. Chen’s clinical interests include all aspects of pediatric surgery with a particular focus on anorectal malformation, Hirschsprung’s disease, bowel management, congenital anomalies, thoracic defects, and minimally invasive surgery.

Chen will work closely with Yung Lau, M.D., who has recently been named president-elect of the medical staff.

"I am honored to have the opportunity to serve as president of the medical staff at Children's of Alabama," said Dr. Mike Chen. "As president, one of my priorities will be looking for ways to support the staff not only in the administrative duties but also in their well-being so they can continue to care for the children of Alabama."

Children's of Alabama Approved for Renovations

The State Health Planning and Development Agency has approved the Certificate of Need (CON) by Children’s of Alabama for renovations that will allow the hospital to more effectively care for patients in behavioral health, critical care and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

The project involves the building out of the 12th floor of the Benjamin Russell building—which is currently shelled space—to serve as a 50-bed unit for critical care patients. To better serve behavioral health patients, the hospital will renovate the 5th floor of the McWane building and operationalize 11 additional beds for the unit. Six bassinets will be added to the NICU.

Children’s licensed bed capacity will remain at 332. The project, which will cost nearly $55 million, will be completed in the fall of 2026.

Children's Epic EMR

Epic is now live at Children's of Alabama! This new electronic medical record (EMR) platform aims to help improve the care of our patients, their families experience and the day-to-day work operations of our employees and providers.

As we adjust to this transition, we want to ensure that referring offices are receiving all patient notes, discharge summaries and other information needed.

Please submit any issues you may be experiencing and

we will work to resolve them as quickly as possible.