There is a trend taking hold in advanced cardiac services: decentralized care.
Systems across the nation are improving access to advanced cardiovascular care by bringing procedures, surgeries and screenings to regional and community hospitals. Traditionally, these cardiovascular services were provided only on systems’ main campuses, requiring some patients to drive hours for care.
“Larger health systems often face challenges with complex procedures, especially as programs grow like they have here at University Hospitals,” Justin Dunn, MD, regional director of the Valve & Structural Heart Disease Center at University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute in Cleveland, said on an upcoming Becker’s podcast episode. “As programs expand, they can become congested, and patients may have difficulty getting in for procedures.”
Decentralized care addresses this issue for both patients and hospitals. Patients can find advanced care in their community, and hospitals see an increase in access, patient satisfaction and a financial boost from the increased surgery volumes.
Here are four systems decentralizing cardiac care:
1. University Hospitals began expanding its cardiac care to community hospitals six months ago. Leaders were careful to structure the program to ensure that regional community hospitals had essentially the same patient outcomes as those on the main campus. In only a few months, the system saw a 25% increase in volume compared to last year — thanks to their ability to schedule procedures more quickly and accommodate a higher volume across the system.
2. Winfield, Ill.-based Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital might be a community hospital, but it has one of the nation’s top heart programs. Its system for cardiovascular care is now being integrated across nine hospitals and multiple ambulatory sites across Northwestern. The integration is overseen by system committees for interventional cardiology, structural heart, heart failure, electrophysiology and ambulatory care. This has led to quick adoption for efficiency and quality wins, as well as informed budget planning so sites are resources properly.
3. Murfreesboro, Tenn.-based Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford opened its Structural Heart and Valve Center, which will provide advanced heart treatments such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement, left atrial appendage closure, and other minimally invasive valve repair and replacement procedures.
“Patients can now access procedures once only available by traveling to our hospital in Nashville, right here in Rutherford County,” Daphne David, president and CEO of Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford, said.
4. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will begin offering pediatric cardiology services through a clinic in Santa Monica, Calif. The clinic will offer services including echocardiography, electrophysiology, evaluation of fainting and palpitation and fetal heart assessments.
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