Working Together to Deliver the Best Care, Close to Home

Akron Children’s Showers Family Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders has provided bone marrow transplant care since 2003, with more than two decades of experience and outcomes comparable to peer institutions. Through a new collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s, the programs are aligning leadership, transplant protocols, and research efforts to support improved access, enhanced quality and safety, and achieve FACT (Foundation for Accreditation of Cellular Therapy) accreditation—an important step in ensuring consistent insurance coverage for families.

By working together, the two teams are strengthening an already established BMT program through shared clinical expertise, joint case review, and in-person collaboration. This collaboration is designed to allow more children to receive bone marrow transplants close to home, cared for by their familiar Akron Children’s oncology team, while benefiting from a unified, regional approach to excellence in pediatric cancer and transplant care.

The Heart Center at Akron Children’s works in close collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s to provide coordinated, comprehensive care for children with congenital and complex heart conditions. Most pediatric and congenital heart patients receive their care at Akron Children’s, including diagnostic evaluations, treatment, and long-term follow-up close to home. For a small number of children who require highly specialized procedures not currently offered in Akron—such as heart transplantation, complex bi-ventricular repairs, or advanced virtual surgical planning—families have the option of surgery at Cincinnati Children’s, with care seamlessly coordinated by teams at both hospitals.

Through shared leadership, joint recruitment, regular multidisciplinary case conferences, and aligned quality and safety initiatives, the two heart programs function as a unified care team. Physicians from both organizations meet frequently to review cases, plan treatment, and assess outcomes, ensuring every child benefits from collective expertise while maintaining continuity of care. This collaboration is designed to give families throughout Northeast Ohio access to advanced congenital heart care, with as much care as possible delivered close to home and ongoing support before, during, and after surgery.

Akron Children’s Pediatric Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Center has aligned their program with Cincinnati Children’s to address the national shortage of fellowship-trained pediatric otolaryngologists and to improve access to timely, high-quality care. Through shared leadership, joint recruitment, and aligned clinical and research goals, the collaboration is expanding the number of specialized ENT physicians serving the Akron region while strengthening both organizations’ ability to support clinical trials, research, and the development of evidence-based clinical guidelines.

This collaboration is focused on reducing wait times for common ENT procedures, improving access to specialized services, and growing a combined team with complementary skills and expertise. By sharing best practices, quality and safety initiatives, and a broad patient base across northeast and southwest Ohio, Akron Children’s and Cincinnati Children’s are building a unified, patient-centered ENT program.

The Pediatric Gastroenterology team at Akron Children’s is building on the success of their long-standing kidney transplant collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s to align clinical protocols, supporting children who need liver transplant and advanced hepatology care. This collaboration is designed to ensure patients can receive most of their care close to home while benefiting from a coordinated, team-based approach that spans the full spectrum of pediatric liver conditions—not limited to autoimmune disease but including comprehensive hepatology services.

Through shared expertise, aligned protocols, and on-site hepatology clinics at Akron Children’s, the collaboration strengthens access to specialized care, supports recruitment of pediatric hepatologists, and connects patients to a broader range of clinical trials and emerging therapies. Together, the two institutions are expanding care capacity, advancing research, and delivering seamless, high-quality liver care for children across the region.

For more than a decade, the Division of Nephrology at Akron Children’s has worked side by side with Cincinnati Children’s to provide coordinated, high-quality kidney transplant care for children. Through a closely aligned collaboration, the two programs share clinical protocols and expertise, ensuring a seamless experience before, during, and after transplant. This collaboration allows Akron Children’s patients to receive the majority of their care close to home while benefiting from a unified, team-based approach to transplant services.

As the programs have deepened their alignment, evaluation and hospitalization timelines became more streamlined, significantly reducing time spent away from family and home. Families consistently report high satisfaction with this model, which prioritizes convenience, continuity, and exceptional care. When presented with transplant options, families have overwhelmingly chosen this Akron–Cincinnati collaboration, reflecting confidence in the strength of the collaboration and the shared commitment of both organizations to patient-centered outcomes.

Cincinnati Children’s  is a nonprofit academic health system that is consistently ranked among the best pediatric health systems in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. As the leader in pediatric research and education, they are one of the top recipients of pediatric research grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Through our collaborations, Akron Children’s and Cincinnati Children’s are dedicated to ensuring all children have access to world-class care, close to home.