Cardiovascular Business - July/August 2008 - (Page 8)

Generally, the spaces are too small, a function of trying to keep the budget tight and save money. James easter, FaaMa, director, healthcare planning department, hFR architecture engineering, Brentwood, tenn. South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Mass., transformed its cardiovascular services in 2006. Accurate volume projections were essential, says Bill Burke, director of cardiology, since the hospital was considering a $13.5 million expenditure—its largest expenditure ever. The whole project took 18 months from first drawings to the open house. Corazon oversaw task forces for clinical workflow, patient and family experience, and facilities, which included IT infrastructure, equipment and staffing. Corazon’s work allowed the facility’s team to “focus purely on building and designing rather than worrying about the operational piece,” Burke says. Data indicated that the area had a slightly higher than state average prevalence of cardiovascular disease, Burke says. To capture the market right away, the facility went live with a 24/7 emergency angioplasty program, which quadrupled volume in short order. Soon after, the hospital began offering elective angioplasty. South Shore is participating in the Mass Comm Trial, a randomized trial comparing the safety and long term outcomes for percutaneous coronary intervention between Massachusetts hospitals with cardiac surgery onsite and community hospitals without cardiac surgery backup. At this point, the first batch of data is being reviewed and Burke hopes the results will provide a “stamp of approval” on the process. For now, the hospital has realized the fruits of its labor in terms of door-to-balloon (D2B) outcomes, Burke says. Last year, 88 percent of patients had D2B times of 90 minutes or less. This › CT and MRI vie for cath lab presence Whether CT or MRI will have a place in the cath labs of the future is still unknown, according Georgann Bruski, director of contracting CVI at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston and principal consultant for radiology and cardiology services of ADVANCE Healthcare Consulting. She predicts that one or the other will take the place of diagnostic catheterization within the next five to seven years. “We’re seeing facilities be very deliberate in the placement of noninvasive services close to the cath lab,” says Bruski. She worked with a tertiary care center that was very specific about where to locate the MR scanner in relation to the cath lab. “How each modality will work in conjunction with other diagnostic tools is developing day to day,” she says. For now, catheterization is still considered the gold standard, says Carolyn Weaver, executive vice president of John O. Goodman and Associates, a consulting firm in Las Vegas. “We have not developed coronary CT to the level that we need to be able to say that it is going to take over the cath lab. We thought it would come along sooner.” Cardiovascular Business July/August 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cardiovascular Business - July/August 2008

Cardiovascular Business - July/August 2008 Table of Contents First Word Cover Story: Planning for the Ideal Cath Lab Requires the Multidisciplinary Approach Clinical Study Digest: Cell Phone Technology Speeds Ecgs As Real-Time 3d Echo Matures, It Finds a Clinical Niche Ecg Image Management Brings Increased Productivity and Confidence Overcoming Barriers to Cath Lab Inventory Control Maximizing Reimbursement, Minimizing Penalties News & Views Calendar Reader Resources The Back Page

Cardiovascular Business - July/August 2008

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