Hospital’s longtime Chief Medical Officer Nick Holekamp, MD, has assumed the new role to drive systemic change for children with complex medical needs
Maryland Heights, Mo. (Oct. 7, 2025) – St. Louis-based Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital has appointed Nick Holekamp, MD, its first Chief Health Transformation Officer, a newly-created role to lead the hospital’s plan to bring systemic change to the care of medically complex children.
The only hospital of its kind in Missouri and one of a select few in the country, Ranken Jordan specializes in caring for children and their families with the most complex conditions, illnesses and injuries, bridging the gap between hospital and home.
In his new role, Dr. Holekamp will work to influence policymakers and healthcare system leaders to adopt innovative practices, specifically the hospital’s unique care model, Care Beyond the Bedside, to maximize long-term outcomes for children with complex medical needs.
Care Beyond the Bedside is based on the philosophy that play and healing are inextricably linked and that children develop best when they are out of their hospital bed. For young children especially, prolonged hospitalization can lead to neurodevelopmental delays so the model works to lower that risk.
Dr. Holekamp will lead the hospital’s efforts to share the model and its benefits, educating other healthcare professionals–through presenting at conferences, publishing thought leadership pieces, and meeting with providers directly–to encourage them to adopt some or all of the model’s components.
He will also continue to lead Ranken Jordan’s academic research work in partnership with Research Director Patrick Hogan, who was appointed in November 2024 as the hospital’s first full-time staff member dedicated to this area. The purpose of the new department is to share, through evidence-based research, that getting kids out of their hospital rooms and using the power of play leads to better health outcomes.
Shawn Dryden, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ranken Jordan said sharing the Care Beyond the Bedside model is part of the hospital’s mission to help every child with complex medical needs live their best life, and it is urgently needed in the changing medical landscape.
As medical advances lead to more children surviving NICU and PICU stays, the number of children with complex medical conditions is expected to double in the next decade.*
“We don’t want Care Beyond the Bedside to be a best kept secret, so we see it as our responsibility to share the model with the wider pediatric healthcare industry,” Dryden said. “There is only a small number of hospitals like ours in the country, and while we do serve children from a number of states, we do not have the size and scale to serve everyone. By sharing the benefits of Care Beyond the Bedside and how to implement it, patients can benefit from the model even if they never step foot in our hospital. We needed a leader to focus on this effort full-time and no one is more qualified than Dr. Nick Holekamp.”
Since joining Ranken Jordan in 2000 and assuming the role of Chief Medical Officer in 2006, Dr. Holekamp has become a sought-after expert in the pediatric complex care field and a major champion of Care Beyond the Bedside.
An idea first conceptualized by hospital founder Mary Ranken Jordan, Dr. Holekamp gave the model its name and has tested and studied it through caring for more than 2,000 patients and their families. He and the Ranken Jordan team have created innovative programs and practices, such as the Patient Play Associate role and the OZ program, to encourage kids with complex medical conditions to play more and enjoy opportunities non-hospitalized children get to experience, like spending time outside and socializing with peers.
“Sharing the Care Beyond the Bedside model has been a passion of mine since joining Ranken Jordan,” Dr. Holekamp said. “Watching the life-changing impact it has had on so many patients and their families has been one of the greatest joys of my career. In this new role, I am honored to dedicate myself fully to advancing this model and leading transformative change in pediatric healthcare.”
To support Ranken Jordan’s work with medically complex children and their families, visit rankenjordanfoundation.org/donate.
