Trinity Hospital of Augusta will be getting the long-sought ability to perform certain heart procedures, but Doctors Hospital won't. At least not yet, though that could change soon, Doctors CEO Shayne George said.
At issue are therapeutic cardiac catheterizations, among the more commonly performed heart procedures in the U.S., with 661,000 in 2006, according to the National Hospital Discharge Survey.
Hospitals could perform diagnostic catheterizations, but Georgia had limited therapeutic procedures, such as balloon angioplasty, to hospitals that also had an open heart surgery program as backup, said Clyde Reese, the general counsel for the Georgia Department of Community Health.
"Hospitals had always wanted to try to be able to do the therapeutic caths without the on-site open heart program," he said. "And they had pointed to some recent studies in the last few years that said you could begin to do these without open heart backup because the technology had advanced to the point where you could do that safely without having that open heart capability right there at the same facility."
Last year, Senate Bill 433 overhauled Georgia's Certificate of Need licensing program and provided an exemption for hospitals to apply to do therapeutic catheterizations as long as they met certain criteria. Sixteen hospitals applied in May, and last week 13 of them, including Trinity, were accepted.
Doctors was rejected because, Mr. Reeves said, it did not include documentation of an agreement with a service that could provide ambulances with an intra-aortic balloon pump to safely transport patients to an open-heart facility. Mr. George said the information was provided and the facility will likely contest the denial in an administrative hearing soon.
"This is a technicality that we hope to get through here pretty quickly," he said.
Trinity will still have to undergo a site visit, probably in the next two to three weeks, and there is a chance another hospital could contest the state's approval, said Trinity CEO James Cruickshank. But the hospital is going to move forward, he said.
The old St. Joseph Hospital had been doing a lot of diagnostic caths, about 350 to 400 a year, before it fell on hard financial times and its equipment became obsolete, Mr. Cruickshank said. The hospital was sold, and the cath lab was replaced in 2007.
"It will really give us the opportunity to rebuild that cardiology service line," he said. "So we are very excited about it."
Doctors, which performs 200 to 300 diagnostic caths a year, could also see significant growth once it gains approval, which could be in 60 to 90 days, Mr. George said.
"That would be a huge step for us," he said. "A lot of this is physician driven. So once we have the service and the physicians supporting us, those numbers could grow. I would anticipate they would.
Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.
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It is all physician driven. Sure, the patients have the need, but the physicians are the ones who really determine where the procedures are done. If I had to choose between Doctor's Hospital and Trinity to have this cath done, it would definitely be at Doctor's. Trinity is NOT good old St. Joseph Hospital anymore! Entirely different mindset of their administration now....money, money, money! Ask any of their employees and they'll tell you.
The study mentioned stated that NONEMERGENT angioplasties could be done with about the same mortality as with hospitals with surgical back-up in the hospital. Someone having an emergency catheterization and possibly an angioplasty would be much better served going to a facility with surgical back-up. Certain types of artery blockages can't be angioplastied and require surgery. Every cardiology organization (American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention) recommends in-house surgical back-up. If you are having chest pain, go to a hospital with cardiac surgery capabilities.
If you are a burn patient you go to Doctors, if you are a trauma patient you go to MCG, if you are a possible heart patient University is the only choice. St. Joseph aka Trinity is where you have babies.
Check the mortality rates for hospitals in our area doing cardiac surgery. That's University, Aiken, MCG and Eisenhower. Guess which one has the lowest mortality rate by percentage? Eisenhower. Aiken is a close second, but MCG is waaaayyyyy back. Six months after leaving the hospital, an astounding 13.79% of MCG's coronary artery bypass surgery patients have died.
Anyone who would have this done at either Doctor's or St. Josephs (AKA Trinity) is taking their life in their hands. You can puncture a vessel doing caths; and without adequate backup (AKA open heart capability) you are DEAD!! You also may have complications requiring skilled critical care follow-up. Again not at Trinity or Doctor's. Better stick with full service hospitals, University or MCG for cardiac services. Go to Doctor's if you are seriously burned. Have your baby at Trinity.
As with the letters above,it does'nt matter if you can do a heart cath or angioplasty,but if you can do anything if this procedure does'nt work.