Collaboration Brings Advanced Liver Care Closer
This fall marks the one-year anniversary of a collaboration between Cincinnati Children’s and Akron Children’s that expands access to specialized liver care for pediatric patients in Northeast Ohio.
The partnership builds on a strong historical relationship between the two pediatric health systems. For the past decade, Cincinnati Children’s and Akron Children’s have collaborated to provide pediatric patients with complex care close to home—by aligning on treatment protocols, shared resources and referrals to best serve the patient population.
A Powerful Partnership
Akihiro Asai, MD, PhD, a pediatric hepatologist in Cincinnati Children’s Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, joined the Akron Children’s gastroenterology department in September 2023—filling the role of a retiring physician who was bridging two hospitals.
In his position at Akron Children’s, Asai sees pediatric liver patients two days each month in clinic and two days each month via telemedicine. Since his start, Asai has had close to 300 patient visits.
The coverage helps bridge the gap between patients with complicated cases—including those who need transplantation—and the specialized liver care Cincinnati Children’s provides, Asai says.
"The collaboration has been very successful so far,” he says, noting his on-site presence allows him to more closely monitor patients with autoimmune liver disease and more quickly diagnose cases of rare disease.
Asai’s first in-clinic patient at Akron Children’s, in fact, had biliary atresia. Combined with a heart defect, the patient suffered from several severe complications from her disease, eventually traveling to Cincinnati Children’s for a liver transplant. Because of the partnership, Asai says, the patient was able to get an open-heart surgery in Akron in time and the transplant and care she needed in Cincinnati—and recently celebrated her first birthday at home.
“It’s a testament to the power of this partnership,” Asai says. “It highlights the advanced care outcomes we’re able to bring to patients across Ohio.”
Expanding Access to Care
Since 1988, our team at Cincinnati Children’s has performed more than 800 liver transplants, including multi-organ transplants. Over the past 10 years, we’ve performed more transplants for patients with liver tumors than any other hospital in the country, and we have a shorter median time to transplant than the regional and national median.
In addition to liver transplant, Cincinnati Children’s has collaborated with Akron Children’s for over a decade to care for kidney transplant patients. We also partner with Akron Children’s to provide complex care in other specialties, including pediatric otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) and bone marrow transplant.
It’s part of an approach to care that not only enables our health system to attract and retain the very best talent, but also to cultivate an environment of learning and discovery that changes outcomes for children in Cincinnati and around the world.
“Working with other health systems helps give more children access to world-class care close to home,” Asai says. “The team at Akron Children’s has been very collaborative. Much of our success with this partnership is due to their strong commitment.
(Published November 2024)
