Specialty Medical Group
Valley Children's Specialty Medical Group Central California, Inc. (SMG) is a hospital-based medical corporation associated with Valley Children's. SMG was established in 1997, and now includes more than 150 pediatric subspecialist physicians and maternal fetal medicine physicians practicing in numerous locations from Bakersfield to Modesto and the Central Coast. They provide care for premature infants, newborns, children, adolescents and young adults with congenital, acquired and acute conditions.
SMG’s physicians are closely affiliated with Valley Children’s and offer some of the nation's best pediatric subspecialists and maternal fetal medicine physicians. SMG’s physicians practice in subspecialties that include:
- Cardiology
- Complex Pediatrics
- Endocrinology
- Gastroenterology
- Genetics
- Hematology
- Hospitalists
- Infectious Disease
- Maternal Fetal Medicine
- Nephrology
- Neurology
- Neurosurgery
- Oncology
- Orthopaedics
- Otolaryngology
- Pediatric Surgery
- Physiatry
- Plastic Surgery
- Rheumatology
- Urology
The Group works with many partnership and satellite locations. In support of the region’s pediatricians, family practice and obstetrical physicians, SMG’s pediatric specialists provide outpatient care in Madera, Merced, Kings, Kern, Stanislaus, San Luis Obispo and Tulare counties. The group’s pediatric hospitalists also serve in Turlock’s Emanuel Medical Center and Bakersfield Memorial Hospital.
SMG’s hospitalist program began at Valley Children’s in the 1990s. Hospitalists have filled key roles in providing around-the-clock inpatient physician care including patient admitting and discharge. Their presence improves and standardizes the quality of care hospital-wide and has greatly improved patient throughput. The hospitalists’ most important role is their communication with referring physicians, regularly updating primary care providers on the condition of their patients.