Contra Costa diverts heart patients to select hospitals - San Francisco Business Times:

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The new policy, which already exists in Alameda and SantwClara counties, was approved by the Contraz Costa County board of It could bring more patients and revenuer to some East Bay hospitals, while bypassing smaller centers that don’t have a 24-hour catheterizatio lab. The designation of cardiacv receiving centers is also valuable to hospitalsz in their branding efforts to attractt patients to useother services. “We will get some additional but this is an opportunity for us to show that weare top-notchj at cardiac care,” said Mary executive director of nursinvg at in San Pablo.
“Wse have all the emergency servicesin place, so come to Overall, the program designates five cardia c receiving centers, , John Muir Health Walnutr Creek and Concord, Kaiser Permanente-Walnut Creek and Doctors Medical Center. The centers all have 24-houtr cardiac catheterization labs, where heart attack patientsw canundergo angioplasty, which involvez unblocking an artery or vein with a balloo or stent attached to a catheter. Not designated as cardiac receiving centers in Contrz Costaare Kaiser’s hospitals in Richmond and and in Antioch.
Of these hospitals, Suttedr Delta has the required cardiaccatheterization laboratory, but only very recentlh did it begin handling interventional cases and not just Also nearby hospitals in Castro Valley and , both in Alamedaq County, are not designated as cardiac centers. Dr. Joe EMS Medical Director for the county, said that ambulance driver and first responders equippedwith 12-lead electrocardiograms in the fields would identify patients with ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction, whichu essentially are heart attacks where there is a total blockagwe of a vein or artery.
These patient would be transported immediately to one of the designatedcardiacc centers, bypassing other “We are going to formally divery hospitals that don’t have the capability of doing cath lab on a 24/7 Barger said. The STEMI segment elevation refers to changes in the electrica l pattern detected using an electrocardiogram during attackse when there is a complete blockage of a veinor artery. Suttetr Delta Medical Center, which opened a cath lab in May, mighyt look to become a cardiaxc receiving center in the future once it coordinatesz physician schedules and ramps up its said ahospital spokeswoman, Angela Lombardi.
Barger said the countyg was also considering a similar prograjm forstroke victims, which also existe in Alameda and Santa Clara counties, but that he was less convincex that the research was in place to justify divertinyg stroke patients to certaih designated hospitals.