Shriners Children’s Northern California is the Sacramento region’s only freestanding children’s hospital providing highly specialized care for patients requiring treatment for a broad range of orthopedic and neuro-musculoskeletal conditions, burns and traumatic injuries.
“We are truly unique in the healthcare space — nobody else matches our model of care,” confirms Aaron Lloyd, corporate director for professional provider relations. “We offer the very best pediatric care available and if a child requires one of our services, we provide it regardless of the family’s ability to pay or insurance status.”
Shriners Children’s has a multi-layered approach to reaching children in need of care. As a significant aspect of this approach, Lloyd oversees the provider relations team across the nationwide Shriners Children’s system.
“Our team of 44 physician liaisons work with referring providers in different markets across the U.S. with the purpose of connecting patients to our services who might not otherwise have known Shriners Children’s was an option for them,” he explains.
Though he’s held his current title for just three months, Lloyd has been working toward the same goal for Shriners Children’s in California for several years and brings that acumen to his expanded territory. His team of physician liaisons have relationships with medical professionals and organizations that have authority to refer children in need of the services Shriners Children’s provides.
“One focus is simply making sure providers know we exist,” says Lloyd. “That may sound rudimentary, but there are still many pediatricians in areas relatively close to where Shriners Children’s operates who have no idea that we’re here and what services we offer. We leverage a lot of market data to identify those busy pediatricians who have never referred patients to us. In the Sacramento area, it’s rare to come across a pediatric office that doesn’t know we exist, but when we get a little farther out, we start to see opportunities.”
The physician liaisons’ goal is to educate those offices about Shriners Children’s services, the criteria for services and how Shriners Children’s is almost always the best option to treat the specific conditions within their scope of care. Lloyd notes that once the discussion begins, their mission really sells itself. “With our mission being so pure-hearted and all financial barriers to care removed, it’s easy for these outside organizations and referring providers to get behind what we do,” he says.
Vision 2035 is Shriners Children’s new strategic plan for the next 10 years. Within that plan is a very intentional desire to significantly grow the volume of patients — tripling the number of children provided with care over the course of the next decade. Shriners Children’s Northern California in Sacramento is on track for about 13,000 patients this year, a 10% increase over last year. That 10% increase is typical of their growth each year.
“We are heavily dependent on philanthropy, donations and our Shriners International Fraternity. Their continued support and commitment to our mission will help us meet our goal of tripling patient volume by 2035.” -Aaron Lloyd, Corporate Director for Professional Provider Relations
“We don’t have the space to triple volumes as a single site in Sacramento, but this goal spans our entire organization,” says Lloyd. “We’ll be looking for new markets and locations across our system to start offering services. In the Greater Sacramento area, it might be a neighboring community toward the foothills, down the valley or closer to the Bay Area. Once we identify ideal locations, we will start developing satellite clinics to better reach families and expand access to care for more children.”
New facilities will increase physical capacity, but the medical professionals to staff them are equally important. Shriners Children’s will be hiring doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, therapists and all the supporting positions to staff the satellite clinics.
“This expansion is not possible without donors and philanthropy,” says Lloyd. “We are heavily dependent on philanthropy, donations and our Shriners International Fraternity. Their continued support and commitment to our mission will help us meet our goal of tripling the number of patients cared for by 2035.”
In 2026, there are plans to expand Shriners Children’s in the Northern California region. For opportunities to sponsor new clinics and support the Shriners Children’s mission, please contact (916) 453-2321.
