St. John still faces hurdles in bid to offer elective angioplasties
Monday, August 25, 2008 11:34 PM PDT
By Barbara LaBoe
Printable version
E-mail this articleProposed state cardiac care rules still don’t favor St. John Medical Center’s bid to offer elective angioplasties, but hospital officials say they remain optimistic they’ll prevail.
“It’s not the perfect outcome, but it does give us hope that the Department of Health is still listening and that there’s an opportunity for more movement,” said hospital spokesman Randy Querin.
St. John and other smaller hospitals without open heart surgery programs want permission to perform elective angioplasties. The procedure involves inserting a balloon into a blocked artery using a catheter. Often, a mesh stent also is inserted to hold the blocked artery open.
Currently, smaller hospitals can only perform them in emergency cases. St. John doesn’t even do that because officials say it’s too hard to keep a doctor just for emergencies. Without the elective option, St. John says it can’t attract enough cardiologists to expand needed programs in Longview.
The Legislature approved expanding the services to rural areas in 2007, but lawmakers put the state Department of Health in charge of drawing rules to implement the policy. St. John and others say the rules contradict lawmakers’ intent by effectively blocking most small, rural hospitals from participating.
The proposed state rules would require 300 elective angioplasty procedures a year to keep certification, something St. John and others say is too high.
The state and several larger hospitals said the number is needed to ensure safety and doctor competence. St. John and others contend national studies have found that 200 a year is a safe figure.
At a public hearing in Tumwater in early July, a majority of speakers favored lowering the required number of procedures.
State officials took the comments under advisement and did revamp some of the rules. The 300-procedure requirement, though, still is in newly proposed rules.
Querin said hospital officials are optimistic more changes are possible.
“The latest edition of the rules doesn’t show a lot of movement, but we feel it does show that the Department of Health is still listening,” Querin said. “The dialogue is still ongoing, and there is support among various hospitals and legislators and patients.”
Querin said all of the region’s legislators have sent letters of support to the Department of Health.
The state has scheduled a public hearing on the rules for Sept. 30 in Tumwater. Comments will be taken on the latest changes as well as the overall package of rules. St. John officials plan to attend.
The hearing starts at 1:30 p.m. in the Department of Health’s Point Plaza East, 310 Israel Road SE in Tumwater. For details, including other ways to comment, visit http://www.doh.wa.gov/hsqa/fsl/CertNeed/Docs/PHPCIRules.pdf.
Girth VonPhister wrote on Aug 26, 2008 10:06 AM:
ashton wrote on Aug 26, 2008 12:28 PM:
Local Mom wrote on Aug 26, 2008 1:36 PM:
pilaf wrote on Aug 26, 2008 1:49 PM:
ashton wrote on Aug 26, 2008 5:07 PM:
Should have nothing to do with trying to keep health care local by having St John be able to do these cardiology procedures.I'm sure they are doing what they can to retain and recruit primary docs. Maybe if the community supported St John a little more, maybe docs would come here and stay - would you want to come work for a community that seems to thrive on bashing the hospital you would be working for? "
Atrucker wrote on Aug 26, 2008 7:51 PM:
Even doing stents is a patch job . but it could , and does save lives. I wonder why is St Johns so far behind the times. ? "
l-town mom wrote on Aug 26, 2008 8:52 PM:
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