Quality care for high-risk newborns can best be provided by coordinating the efforts of the primary care pediatrician and the neonatologist. This ideally occurs in the newborn period, during the critical care and convalescing periods, and through the time of discharge. This statement offers guidelines for the primary care pediatrician involved in providing neonatal care, and discusses his/her individual and shared responsibilities, roles, and relationships with the neonatologist and the neonatal intensive care unit.
