The El Paso Inc. published a Q&A featuring Dr. Bradley Fuhrman, physician-in-chief at the El Paso Children’s Hospital, which opened to patients Tuesday. Here is an excerpt:
“Fuhrman is board certified in three pediatric subspecialties - cardiology, perinatal medicine and critical care. He holds or shares patents on 11 medical devices and has patents pending on two others.
And he wrote "the" book on pediatric critical care, titled, appropriately, "Pediatric Critical Care." Now in its fourth revision, the 1,740-page text sells for close to $300 and is considered the bible in that specialized field of medicine.
His wife, Lynn Hernan, is also a pediatric critical care specialist. She will teach at the medical school and work at the hospital.
Asked how long he might stay in El Paso, Fuhrman answered, "I have two young children in the house, a 7-year-old and 9-year-old, so it will be a while before they want to move again. And, right now I feel as though I could keep working indefinitely."
He spoke with El Paso Inc. about bringing more doctors to El Paso, medicine's role in economic development, and what's special about this children's hospital.
Q: How is this children's hospital different from others?
This is a hospital that's being developed for the children of the area at the wishes of the community that will be a free-standing, separately licensed, that will be not-for-profit and will serve all comers who have need, all patients whether they are well-to-do or uninsured.
We'll roll out as a completely independent hospital with its own board of trustees.
So those things are really exceptional. The general rule of thumb for the times is that children's hospitals are rolled into other hospitals or into larger provider systems, which enables them to offer cradle-to- grave coverage. That's really an insurance issue more than anything else - a business proposition. This one is purely for the children.
Q: What do you mean by cradle-to-grave in the context of insurance?
Hospital systems become part of provider networks. They sell contracts to employers for their employees that offer them health-care coverage. It's advantageous to cover the whole family, so they call it cradle-to-grave because it goes from infancy to retirement and beyond.
That kind of coverage is the primary coverage that insurance companies want to sell. So the motivation has been to move children's hospitals into networks that offer those kinds of services.
In this case, they've done pretty much the opposite. They've created an environment that will be perfect for children where decisions will be made based on what is best for the children and not on what is best for the corporation or what the needs of adults are.
Q: This hospital is a private, non-profit institution that will be in partnership with a public medical school and a public county hospital. How usual is this arrangement?
It's very unusual. There are excellent freestanding children's hospitals in this country. Most of them though either have been rolled into a larger arrangement or are borne into another arrangement. In this case, they've deliberately set out to establish something that is especially for children.
Q: Tell us about some of medical devices you've created that are used around the world.
Probably the best-known thing that I have worked on is a catheter for draining fluid from around the lung or the heart and that can present as a life-threatening problem.
I developed that more than a decade ago, and it's been heavily utilized and now benefits a very large number of patients every year. That's been very rewarding for me. It grew out of my clinical work. So it's an example of what can happen when a person in an academic practice has the time to turn their ideas into something that can service a wider population base. It's the kind of technology development that the children's hospital will promote for this area.
Q: Do you think this kind of setting will attract research, medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies?
This should be attractive. It's going to be a large, new enterprise. There are people here interested in promoting new developments in health care and there are people who are interested in investing in it.
There's synergy with Juárez because Juárez is an excellent site for manufacturing and El Paso is an excellent site for prototyping and for development of new devices. So there are good reasons to consider a location like this.
El Paso Times publishes centerpiece story on Dr. Bradley Fuhrman [posted Oct. 10, 2011]
Bradley Fuhrman, M.D., is the recently recruited Pediatrician-in-Chief for the El Paso Children’s Hospital and Chair of the Pediatrics Department at the TTUHSC Paul L. Foster School of Medicine. Below is an excerpt from a story published Oct. 10 in the El Paso Times:
“…this graying, soft-spoken man in the dark blue blazer literally wrote the book on caring for critically ill children. Fuhrman…was the lead editor on "Pediatric Critical Care." The Journal of the American Medical Association wrote in a review of an earlier edition that the textbook "has become a standard" in most pediatric intensive care units.
Fuhrman, 65, started practicing pediatric critical care in 1979. He also is an inventor. Among his many patents is a device -- the Fuhrman pigtail catheter -- that is widely used in emergency rooms.
"He's the father of pediatric critical care in this country," said Larry Duncan, the hospital's chief executive officer.
Fuhrman assumes a position that will put him in the forefront of a broad regional expansion of medical services encompassed in the Medical Center of the Americas' 50-year plan. The $120-million children's hospital, scheduled to open in February, University Medical Center, and Texas Tech's new medical school form the nucleus of this growth.”
El Paso Times El Paso Times editorial opinion piece
Children’s Hospital and med school appoint head pediatrician [originally posted July 14, 2011]
Bradley P. Fuhrman, M.D., a professor of pediatrics and anesthesiology in New York, has been appointed professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, TTUHSC Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in El Paso. In addition, Dr. Fuhrman has been appointed as the pediatrician-in-chief of the El Paso Children’s Hospital. He begins his duties Aug. 22.
“Dr. Fuhrman’s appointment represents another step towards the quality children’s healthcare we’ve all dreamed of here in El Paso,” said Jose Manuel de la Rosa, M.D., Founding Dean TTUHSC Paul L. Foster School of Medicine. “He is representative of our commitment to bringing the highest caliber physicians around the country to practice at the El Paso Children’s Hospital.”
According to Lawrence Duncan, CEO El Paso Children’s Hospital, Dr. Fuhrman was chosen after an extensive search. “Dr. Fuhrman is the best fit for El Paso Children’s Hospital. He will make sure that El Paso Children’s Hospital is synonymous with the highest quality of care for the children of El Paso, West Texas, and New Mexico and beyond. “
Dr. Fuhrman is an internationally recognized expert in alternative modes of life support and disaster preparedness. Dr. Fuhrman is the author or co-author of almost 200 articles and publications including the definitive textbook for pediatric care medicine, "Pediatric Critical Care." Dr. Fuhrman has had numerous research inventions, patents and patent applications in his name. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Pediatrics, Critical Care Medicine, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, as well as on the editorial committee of the World Journal of Pediatrics.
Prior to coming to El Paso, Dr. Fuhrman was a tenured professor of pediatrics and anesthesiology at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo and Division Chief of Pediatric Critical Care at Children’s Hospital of Buffalo. He spent more than two decades at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, SUNY. Dr. Fuhrman was also a critical care specialist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine for six years before arriving at SUNY, first as a visiting associate professor, and later as an adjunct professor until 1998.
Dr. Fuhrman began his distinguished career at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine from 1979 through 1985, where he rose from instructor to associate professor. A chemistry major at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, Dr. Fuhrman is a graduate of the New York University School of Medicine where he earned his medical degree in 1971. He interned and completed his pediatric residency at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine in 1973. Dr. Fuhrman completed subspecialty training in neonatology in 1974 pediatric cardiology in 1979, both at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine.
Over the years, Dr. Fuhrman has held numerous leadership positions as director, medical director, and division chief at the Children’s Hospital of Buffalo and the University of Minnesota providing services in the pediatric intensive care unit, pediatric cardiology and critical care, and the neonatal intensive care unit. During that time he also held the position of director, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Research and Cardiolpulmonary Research Laboratory, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
He is board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in general pediatrics and three subspecialties: pediatric cardiology, perinatal medicine, and pediatric critical care. He is a Fellow of the American College of Critical Care Medicine. He is also board certified by the National Board of Medical Examiners.
Among his many awards and recognitions are the Helen L. DeRoy Distinguished Visiting Professor of Pediatrics Children’s Hospital of Detroit, Luis Mosovich Award, Pediatric ICU, Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, and the Distinguished Career Award, AAP Critical Care Section.
Comments (0)