Children’s Nebraska pulmonary hypertension team. Clockwise from back left: Paul Sammut, MD; Scott Fletcher, MD; Venus Anderson, APRN-NP; Matthew Dennis, MD; Claire Dlugosz, RN-BSN; Jill Bechaz, PharmD.
Children’s Nebraska is the first medical center to become a Pulmonary Hypertension Association-accredited Pediatric Regional Clinical Program.
“Receiving this accreditation provides validation that our program operates at the highest level of quality standards,” says pulmonologist Matthew Dennis, co-director of the pediatric PH team. “It also increases our program visibility on a national scale and as a desired destination in the Midwest for patients to receive high quality PH care closer to home.”
PHA revised its criteria for accredited pediatric PH Care Centers in 2023, resulting in the Pediatric Regional Clinical Program designation in addition to the existing Pediatric Center of Comprehensive Care. It’s the first time PHA has added a new accreditation designation since 2017 and paves the way for rural and smaller clinics to become accredited.
The criteria for the new designation are based on key elements from PHA’s Pediatric Centers of Comprehensive Care and relevant aspects of the adult regional program criteria. Like those accredited institutions, pediatric regional centers:
- Must provide all non-parenteral PAH therapies.
- Don’t need to contribute to PH research.
- Might have lower patient volume than pediatric comprehensive care centers.
The less rigorous requirements — which meet current treatment and consensus guidelines — open the door to more institutions seeking pediatric accreditation. PHA encourages collaboration among between accredited pediatric programs, requiring regional programs to check in every six months with a chosen pediatric comprehensive care center.
Within a month of the rollout, Children’s Nebraska expressed interest in the new designation to PHA. “It has been a goal of ours to become an accredited site, and we were thrilled when the pediatric RCP criteria was released,” says Scott Fletcher, co-director at Children’s Nebraska.
Several factors contribute to a center’s decision on which kind of accreditation to apply for. The small volume of IV therapy patients limited Children’s Nebraska to apply for a pediatric RCP designation. Before the pediatric RCP designation, many prospective pediatric centers faced similar challenges in meeting accreditation criteria.
To address those challenges, PHA formed a PHCC Pediatric Taskforce in 2022. Pediatric physicians and allied health professionals from PHA-accredited centers worked with PHA staff to revise pediatric accreditation criteria to ensure more young patients had access to high quality, specialized PH care.
After PHA announced the new criteria, Children’s Nebraska established a strong foundational team before applying, Fletcher says. Its program is collaborative, led by cardiologist Fletcher and pulmonologist Dennis. They also added a dedicated nurse and nurse practitioner to help develop and formalize processes. Children’s Nebraska also offers pharmacy, social work, dietary, respiratory and other ancillary services.
“The PHCC accreditation process inspired us to formalize our practice patterns, streamline our workflows and ensure we are practicing according to standards of care across the industry,” says nurse coordinator Claire Dlugosz.
Says Fletcher: “Our multidisciplinary team allows us to provide enhanced expertise, good communication and comprehensive patient care. The success we’ve had as a program wouldn’t be feasible without the continued support from our cardiology and pulmonology departments.”
Advanced practice registered nurse Venus Anderson, PH center coordinator, said the accreditation directly benefits patients, giving them additional confidence that Children’s Nebraska remains at the forefront of pediatric PH care.
About PH Care Centers
PHA-accredited Pulmonary Hypertension Care Centers are crucial to PHA’s mission of extending and improving the lives of those affected by PH. The accredited centers provide first-class care and support to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.
The PHCC network, which turns 11 in 2025, has more than 90 PH Care Centers, but just nine are pediatric comprehensive care centers.
This story originally appeared in the December 2025 issue of Pathlight, PHA’s quarterly member magazine. Pathlight is an exclusive benefit of PHA membership. To receive Pathlight at home, join PHA or renew your membership.
