Texas Health Plano's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is the first in Collin County as well as in Texas Health Resources to generate the state's highest designation – Level IV – meaning a healthcare facility is capable of providing the highest degree of care available to our smallest patients.

A Level IV NICU cares for infants born at every stage of being pregnant, including the most complex cases and critically ill babies. The unit takes care of babies as small as about 14.1 oz. (400 grams) and 22 weeks' gestation.

\”Texas Health Plano recently received Level II Trauma designation through the state therefore we are utilized to providing highly complex emergency services to adults and children. The decision to seek level IV designation within the NICU is an extension from the work that we have been doing on this campus so that you can provide highly complex services to our patients which are most in need of assistance.\” said hospital President Josh Floren.

The Level IV recognition gives parents of premature and low birth-weight babies reassurance they are able to get advanced care without having to visit Dallas or elsewhere.

\”We've been providing this kind of take care of years,\” Floren said. \”Now it is simply being recognized. Hopefully young families in the area knows their kids will be in good hands.\”
Dr. Antonio Santiago, medical director from the Texas Health Plano NICU and neonatologist, agreed.

\”Receiving an amount IV NICU designation in the state implies that hospital administration, the medical staff, nursing and ancillary staff make dedication over time to supply the very best quality medical and surgical care to all newborn infants, particularly those in need of specialized care,\” he explained.

The only other Level IV units currently in the DFW area are at Children's Medical Center of Dallas and Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, based on the state website.
Dawn Nichols, director of nursing/women and children at Texas Health Plano, said earning the designation was an effort that required support from the whole hospital.

\”This journey to Level IV designation has been a team effort,\” she said. \”A considerable amount of labor goes into this designation.\”

The designation of levels by the state began having a law went by the 2023-18 Texas Legislature. Before that, hospitals could self-select their care levels based on guidelines in the American Academy of Pediatrics and also the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The Plano NICU would be a Level III under the old system.

\”We were at the upper end of Level III,\” Floren said, adding that all Level III NICUs won't necessarily be designated Level IV. \”Now that level of care is being recognized.\”
Texas Health Plano opened an 18-bed Level II additional care nursery in 2000. In 2005, the hospital opened the current 45-bed unit like a Level III.

Today, the system features advanced care for example total body cooling, which lowers the risk of brain damage for term newborns when pregnancy complications arise unexpectedly and delivery of the baby is necessary. Caregivers in the unit include experienced multidisciplinary surgeons on the medical staff who perform gastrointestinal and laser eye surgeries on the tiny babies, in addition to a number of other highly complex procedures. Physicians on the medical staff likewise incorporate a pediatric cardiologist and a pediatric pulmonologist.