PCMH recognizes primary care practices with a team-based health care delivery model that provide comprehensive care to patients and are dedicated to continuous quality improvement for health outcomes. Designated practices put patients at the forefront and create strong relationships between patients and their clinical care teams.

UofL Physicians – General Pediatrics has clinics at the Novak Center for Children’s Health in downtown, Sam Swope Kosair Charities Centre on Eastern Parkway and on Stonestreet Road in southwest Louisville.

“Following the PCMH model provides a very structured way to deliver coordinated care,” said Amanda Cagle, RN, practice manager for Downtown and Stonestreet sites. “It provides a high level of standardization throughout all three clinics, which follow the same policies and procedures. We are continuously monitoring different aspects of patient care in order to improve the care we deliver to our patients.”

Research shows that PCMHs improve quality, the patient experience and staff satisfaction while reducing health care costs, according to the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

A requirement of earning PCMH designation is using care coordination, the intentional organization of patient care among providers working with a particular patient to provide optimum health services. Through care coordination, providers share important clinical information, work together to keep patients and their families informed and ensure that effective referrals take place.

“We’ve changed policies, procedures and day-to-day functioning to accommodate patients in every way we can,” said Melissa Hancock, MD, UofL division director of general pediatrics. “All of our providers and staff are invested in our patients’ primary care. This is where they’re going to get their comprehensive health care needs met.”

“The support from the Crusade enables us to expand the breadth of general and specialty services we are able to provide to the children who come through our doors,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi, PhD. “All of us at UofL cannot thank the Crusade enough for its commitment to the next generation and their trust in UofL.”

Beginning in late June, nearly all the practices that see patients from infancy to mid-20s in some cases moved into the Novak Center for Children’s Health. This marks the first time that outpatient clinical care for these patients is concentrated in a single location. The Crusade has provided more than $475,000 in support of the facility, including $274,000 in this round of funding.

Because of support from the Crusade, UofL is closer to being able to purchase, equip and staff a van that will serve as a mobile asthma clinic.

“We have seen that if we are able to get into the neighborhoods and make it more convenient for parents and our patients, we have better results,” said Kim Boland, MD, interim chair of the UofL Department of Pediatrics. “This van will have a significant impact on our patients who have asthma and other respiratory ailments.”

The Crusade also provides valuable funding for what may seem like small things, such as basic supplies for a clinic, but they are essential to providing care to children. And this extends to support for hiring personnel.

“Through the support of the Crusade, we can hire specialized care staff that is critical to our delivery of the most complex care to children who have autism, learning disorders, cancer and other conditions and diseases,” said Dr. Greg Postel, UofL executive vice president for health affairs.

This year, the Crusade has helped fund positions in pediatric neurology, pediatric endocrinology, pediatric hematology/oncology and the Weissskopf Child Evaluation Center.

Through the years, the WHAS Crusade for Children has provided nearly $16.3 million to the University of Louisville. This support has enabled UofL to provide medical care to countless children.

“We are thrilled that the years of careful planning and construction are behind us, and we have opened our doors,” said Kimberly Boland, MD, interim chair of the University of Louisville Department of Pediatrics. “This facility enables us to transform how we deliver care by having multidisciplinary teams located in one space so they can meet simultaneously with our patients and their families.

“This eliminates substantial inconvenient delays and obstacles for our patients to receive the very best care in the most efficient way possible.”

Among the first patients seen in the new facility was 11-month-old Zayne Richard, a patient of pediatric cardiologist Zayne was born with an atrioventricular canal defect, which occurs when there is a hole between the heart’s chambers and there are problems with the valves that regulate blood flow in the heart. He also has Down’s syndrome.

UofL doctors successfully treated Zayne for his heart condition with surgery in February, said his mother, Maranda Griffin, who brought him in Tuesday (June 26) for follow-up echocardiogram and electrocardiogram tests to monitor his heart.

Griffin praised the new Novak Center. “This is so nice,” she said, laughing before adding, “nicer than the old office we went to in the Children’s Hospital Foundation Building. It’s much bigger. There is so much more room for Zayne’s stroller, and parking is so convenient, just across the street in the (Chestnut Street) garage.

“It’s so much lighter and brighter too. I love it.”

The new 176,000-square-foot facility at 411 E. Chestnut St. enables providers with the UofL Department of Pediatrics and UofL Physicians to accommodate an anticipated 135,000 patient visits annually in the new center – now one of the largest and most technically advanced pediatric outpatient centers in the United States. The building’s namesakes are retired CEO of Louisville-based Yum! Brands David Novak, his family and their foundation, the Lift-A-Life Foundation.

Designed in kid-friendly colors, the facility features several public areas with soft seating and interactive screens to entertain children while they wait to see providers. But the waiting shouldn’t be long, Boland said: “We have implemented the latest in technological advances, the Real Time Locator System (RTLS), to help move patients and providers to their appointments without lengthy wait times.”

Each floor in the eight-story building has a different predominant color and animal theme to help both children and grownups identify it. Because the Novak Center houses general, specialty and subspecialty pediatrics services in a single building, patients and their families have all their needs handled in one convenient location.

Among the features of the building’s design:

• All pediatric providers are in a single building to ensure a multidisciplinary approach in providing care.
• Innovative clinical and research programs not only provide the latest advances in treatments and cures but also create and develop them.
• The environment enables staff to explore new initiatives, including holistic life style approaches to diseases and conditions that impact children.
• Both basic and clinical research is carried out at the site and will help UofL attract new researchers as faculty.
• ����ֱ�� and training provided to medical students, residents and fellows is enhanced, giving them first-hand experience with interdisciplinary learning they can take directly into the patient exam room.��

Also included in the facility is the Wendy Novak Diabetes Center, created in 2015 with support from the Novaks to provide comprehensive diabetes care as well as access to clinical research trials that sometimes are patients’ only chance at diseases management and survival.

The services of the Wendy Novak Center are augmented with the facility’s up-to-date kitchen. “We are going to invite the world-class chefs of Louisville to teach families how to prepare menus and foods that are diabetic-friendly and can actually improve lives,” Boland said. “Some of these chefs have diabetes themselves so they can speak and teach from first-hand experience.”

A preview of the new 176,000-square-foot facility was held Thursday, May 31, for supporters and friends of the university, including the building’s namesakes, David and Wendy Novak, their family and their foundation, the Lift-A-Life Foundation.

The retired CEO of Louisville-based Yum! Brands, David Novak headed the lineup of dignitaries launching the building’s debut, including University of Louisville Board of Trustees Chair David Grissom, UofL President Neeli Bendapudi, and UofL Executive Vice President for Health Affairs Gregory Postel. Honored among the group were the Novaks’ daughter, Ashley Novak Butler, for her leadership with the project along with others who played a role it: Tony and Lisa Christensen, the WHAS Crusade for Children, Bruce Henderson and Henderson Services, Lynnie Meyer and Emmett Ramser of Norton Healthcare, and the former vice president of advancement at UofL and current Kosair Charities President Keith Inman.

David Novak lauded the facility for creating the environment where a new paradigm of health care for children will be fostered. The Novak Center will house all general, specialty and subspecialty pediatrics services in a single eight-story building, meaning patients and their families will be able to have all their needs handled in one convenient location.

An anticipated 135,000 patient visits will occur annually in the new center – now one of the largest and most technically advanced pediatric outpatient centers in the United States.

David Novak noted the vision of the center: “UofL has the world-class minds; it needed a world-class center. It is so gratifying to be here tonight and see that we are on the cusp of opening a building that has the potential to impact generations to come.”

“This magnificent facility promises to change how health care is delivered to our children with no child turned away from that care,” Grissom said. “Its design for efficiency of care was not by accident; a number of UofL staff spent a tremendous amount of time exploring the best practices from throughout the nation and took the best of those to implement here in Louisville.”

Bendapudi reminded the crowd that implementing such change takes ongoing support.��

“Progress cannot occur without generous support from our community,” she said. “We could not be able to improve how health care is delivered to every child who comes to our door if it were not for the generosity of supporters such as the Novak family and the Lift-a-Life Foundation.”

Postel outlined many of the building’s features: “For too long, we have required our children and their families to move from building to building, office to office, to see all the providers who meet their health care needs. This facility changes that,” with:

• All pediatric providers in a single building to ensure a multidisciplinary approach in providing care
• Innovative clinical and research programs that not only provide the latest advances in treatments and cures, but also create and develop them
• An environment that enables staff to explore new initiatives, including holistic lifestyle approaches to diseases and conditions that impact children
• A site where both basic and clinical research will be carried out and will help UofL attract new researchers as faculty
• Enhancement of the education provided to medical students, residents and fellows, giving them first-hand experience with interdisciplinary learning they can take directly into the patient exam room

Designed for the patient experience

The total patient experience was at the forefront of the facility’s design, Postel said. “In addition to the excellence in patient care provided here, we looked at the ‘softer’ touches – lit-up benches along the skybridge (connecting the building to the parking garage); using colors to identify floors so that no matter what language people speak, they can find the right floor; coding the floors with animals representing regional and Kentucky wildlife to pique children’s interest, and much more.”

Designed in kid-friendly colors, the facility features several public areas with soft seating and interactive screens to entertain children while they wait to see providers. But the waiting shouldn’t be long, say UofL Department of Pediatrics providers: The latest in technological advances, the Real Time Locator System, will help move patients and providers to their appointments without lengthy wait times.

Also included in the facility will be the Wendy Novak Diabetes Center, created in 2015 with support from the Novaks and currently housed in the Children’s Hospital Foundation Building. The Wendy Novak Diabetes Center provides comprehensive diabetes care as well as access to clinical research trials that sometimes are patients’ only chance at diseases management and survival.

The services of the Wendy Novak Center will be augmented in the new facility with the addition of an up-to-date kitchen. “We are going to bring in the world-class chefs we have in Louisville to teach families how to prepare menus and foods that are diabetic-friendly and can actually improve lives,” Novak said. “Some these chefs have diabetes themselves so they can speak and teach from first-hand experience.”

The Novak Center for Children’s Health will be staffed by faculty physicians practicing with UofL Physicians and will open for patient appointments in June. To learn more about the scope of pediatric health care at UofL, visit .

The budget to construct the new facility was $79 million. Messer was construction manager for the project. Photos from the May 31 ribbon-cutting event are .��

Mike Materna and Chuck Denk of UofL’s Department for Planning, Design and Construction, recently released an update to campus staff on the progress of the building, slated to open in July 2018.

The first new health care delivery facility constructed in the Louisville Medical Center in nearly a decade, the Novak Center for Children’s Health is a 176,000-square-foot building that will be home to the general, specialty and subspecialty pediatrics programs at UofL. This includes faculty physicians from UofL’s as well as other departments throughout the UofL School of Medicine, including neurology, oncology-hematology, cardiology, surgery, ophthalmology and more. Faculty physicians at UofL practice with .

The outpatient services of the Wendy Novak Diabetes Center, currently housed in the Children’s Hospital Foundation Building, will move to the facility. Norton Children’s Hospital also will provide care within the new building, including infusion and laboratory services.

Currently, the structure has many interior walls and floors in place, and finishes such as wall tiles and flooring are being laid. Electrical wiring is being installed, and interior painting is underway. A pedway bridge, linking the new building to the existing UofL Physicians Outpatient Center and the Chestnut Street Garage, is now partially enclosed and is being finished out as well. Messer is the construction manager for the project.

“We have made a lot of progress,” Materna said. “Just one year ago we were literally still ‘playing in the sand,’ as I called it, working on digging out the basement and the steam tunnel integration.

“We have hundreds of people working on this site every day no matter what the weather is. They have done a great job to get us to where we are now.”

Approximately 500 employees, residents and students will inhabit the building, and UofL officials expect nearly 120,000 patient visits per year in the new facility.

“We are providing a new medical home for our pediatric patients and their caregivers,” said Gerard Rabalais, MD, acting CEO of UofL Physicians. “It is a home where we are bringing together nearly all of the services we provide to children in an outpatient setting with a true multidisciplinary approach.”

The Novak Center for Children’s Health is named in recognition of the outstanding support provided by David Novak, his family and the Lift-A-Life Foundation. Novak retired as chairman of Yum! Brands in 2000.

“David Novak and his family are helping us build the future of pediatric health care here in Louisville,” said Charles Woods, MD, chair of the Department of Pediatrics and UofL Physicians-Pediatrics. “With their support, we will transform how we deliver care, with health care teams located in one space so they can meet simultaneously with patients and their families and avoid unnecessary inconvenience and delays.”

The Novak Center for Children’s Health is located on South Preston Street between East Chestnut and Muhammad Ali Boulevard.