We are partnering with First Focus on BECA (Babies’ and Children’s Emergency Care Act) to improve pediatric emergency readiness for all children across the United States.
BECA Initiative
BECA aims to save thousands of young lives by improving pediatric readiness in US emergency systems through national policy changes.
R Baby Foundation is collaborating with First Focus on Children to champion the Babies and Children's Emergency Care Act (BECA). This initiative aims to address a long-overlooked crisis in our healthcare system: the lack of pediatric-specific emergency care across the nation. BECA seeks to ensure that all emergency rooms are equipped to meet the unique needs of infants and children, guaranteeing that every child, regardless of location or condition severity, has access to high-quality emergency care.
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The Issue:
The U.S. currently rates a D+ in pediatric emergency readiness and this collaboration seeks to address these critical issues and advocate for national policy changes.
Children account for over 30 million emergency department (ED) visits annually, representing 20% of all ED visits in the U.S. Despite this, a recent analysis suggests that approximately 80% of U.S. EDs are not fully prepared to handle children’s emergencies.
A lack of pediatric emergency readiness is leading to delayed or incorrect diagnoses, inappropriate treatments, suboptimal care, and tragic outcomes. If all EDs were pediatric ready we could save the lives of 2100 children each year.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sets the standards - or conditions of participation - for hospitals to participate in Medicare and Medicaid.
Currently, the conditions of participation related to emergency services standards do not account for the very specific needs of children in emergencies.
Pediatric-specific recommendations from national groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Emergency Physicians, and Emergency Nurses Association, are not mandatory standards and only 19 states have programs to verify pediatric readiness.
The Solution: Improving Pediatric Emergency Readiness for Children
Set Mandatory Guidelines. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) must set clear, mandatory, and pediatric-specific standards for hospitals. CMS should promulgate a regulation setting out pediatric emergency readiness as a condition of participation (CoP) for hospitals in Medicare and Medicaid. In the CoP, CMS should utilize the resources of the National Pediatric Readiness Project, including its checklist and toolkit for all ED providers to help facilitate the delivery of emergency care to all children.
These requirements would ensure hospitals are providing high-quality emergency care to children, including:
Maintaining the necessary pediatric equipment for initial resuscitation and stabilization, including immediate access to a weight-based pediatric resuscitation cart and adopting policies such as weighing and recording patient weights in kilograms only for patient safety.
Appointing an individual to provide administrative oversight of pediatric care within ED policies and practices often referred to as a Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator.
Integrating components of pediatric care into quality improvement activities to monitor adherence to standards of care and develop strategies for improvement.