It isn’t hard to imagine being a working parent with a sick child who needs care right away. Or a parent with an injured child on a holiday weekend. Primary care is closed or we have to take time away from school or work to pursue medical attention. Lack of time and hurriedness is woven into the fabric of modern-day parenting. Primary care isn’t always available, and that’s where Montana Pediatrics swings open their web-based door. Offering on-demand, video-based pediatric care —evenings, weekends, and holidays—Montana Pediatrics is for children and young adults aged 0 to 22 years old.
How is this model more convenient for families who can’t make it in to see a doctor or have trouble taking time off from work? Can you speak to how this model fits a more modern-day society?
Missoula is by and large one of the more urban settings in Montana, however, families in Missoula still face a lot of the same challenges as families in rural Montana in terms of access to pediatric-specific care. Primary care is typically open when most parents are at work and most kids are at school, so families often think, ‘Well, I can’t get off work until 5, my child’s doctor’s office is closed, I guess we have to go to an urgent care or the emergency room.’ It all started with how do we increase access to care? Can Montana’s pediatricians work together so anyone in Montana has a pediatrician available at any given time? Can we create a network where a child’s primary care provider is always looped in with care, regardless of whether their office is open or closed?
How did you decide on high-quality providers and working around their schedule? How did you get these pediatricians to come on board with this new model?
Our founder and CEO—Chelsea Bodnar—is a mom, a pediatrician, and she’s also from Missoula. Her view of the world from those aspects of her life really spurred what is now Montana Pediatrics. We got our start with 15 pediatric providers from all across the state who each felt strongly about increasing access to pediatric-specific care for every child in Montana. We called this group our Practice Champions and nearly all of them are still actively involved in providing care.
Can you tell me about the growth of Montana Peds and what your reach is?
We started out with the intention of serving families with on-demand (after-hours) care, but have really grown to serve so many different programs to support families with many different needs. Since launching our after-hours program in 2020, we’ve added a pediatric mental and behavioral health program, a support program for families of children with type 1 diabetes, 20+ partnerships with community-based non-profits that serve families and children and are currently building a program to support families of children with medical complexity. We’ve grown from supporting a few hundred visits with families to what will likely be more than 3,000 this year across all of our programs. Our network of providers and healthcare partners has grown, too, and we have relationships with providers from more than 14 different clinics and hospitals across Montana.
In Missoula, we have great partnerships with the Meadowlark—the YMCA’s shelter, Mountain Home Montana, the Ronald McDonald House of Western Montana, and the Missoula Public Library, and are hoping to add more community partners in an effort to continue to expand access.
Have you had any great testimonials that reflect this access to care—the convenience it provides?
This winter we saw a mom and her 8-month-old twins. It was the first time one of them had gotten really sick and of course it was over a weekend so primary care was closed. She was packing up the car to head to the emergency room when she remembered Montana Pediatrics. The provider was able to provide an evaluation and next steps for mom all from the comfort of their home. Mom said she was so overwhelmed with the idea of having to take her babies to a germ-filled waiting room, which is a comment we actually get a lot from parents who have used our on-demand program.
"We’ve grown from supporting a few hundred visits with families to what will likely be more than 3,000 this year across all of our programs."
To learn more about Montana Pediatrics and the programs that are available to care for your family, visit MontanaPediatrics.org.