Discover to Deliver Pediatric Futures: Viewpoints of Future Medicine From a Pediatric Health Care System.
Sincock Watkins Vanessa V, Chang Ken K, Sarff Laura L, Vavroch Jared J et al.
Pediatric health care systems face increasing uncertainty driven by rapid technological change, workforce shifts and shortages, environmental threats, and evolving family and community needs. Pediatrics requires future-focused considerations that go beyond adult systems, including family-centered care, developmental trajectories, and long-term societal impacts on child well-being. While the future cannot be predicted, futures medicine methods offer structured approaches to anticipate change and support proactive, values-driven planning. This Viewpoint describes the application of pediatric futures methods within an academic, independent nonprofit pediatric health system and proposes a practical framework that connects future readiness to strategic decision-making and daily care delivery. Futures medicine methods are not new in pediatric health care but may not be visible from the front line of care delivery, which provides an opportunity for clinical, operational, administrative, and enterprise leaders to implement these methods in their workflows. This paper introduces the discover to deliver pediatric futures framework, a continuum that links long-range futures discovery to near-term strategic planning, operational design, implementation, and outcome demonstration, emphasizing future methods and activities for applicable use.