New Cardiac Center Planned
By Carly Harrington, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.
Apr. 19–St. Mary’s Health System is pursuing a joint venture with East Tennessee Heart Consultants and other physicians for a new cardiac catheterization center.
The $7.8 million facility, which is to be considered by the state in June, is part of a plan by St. Mary’s to overhaul its flagship North Knoxville campus near downtown and establish a Center of Excellence in cardiac services.
The project comes amid questions about whether East Tennessee Heart Consultant, one of the largest physician groups in East Tennessee, plans to continue practicing at financially struggling Baptist Health System.
Premier Surgical Associates, a leading Knoxville physicians group, severed its ties with Baptist last month.
Knoxville cardiologist Clint Doiron, an East Tennessee Heart Consultants partner and former Baptist board member, acknowledged that the group is in negotiations with St. Mary’s.
But Doiron insisted the group is committed to its heart program at Baptist.
“We are not moving any patients that can come to Baptist away from Baptist,” Doiron said.
Jerry Askew, senior vice president for mission and communication for St. Mary’s, said the idea of a joint venture evolved from a set of strategic discussions hospital officials had with its physicians.
Under this proposal, doctors would have a 49 percent ownership stake in the joint venture and St. Mary’s would have 51 percent.
“Because of our long-standing relationship with East Tennessee Heart Consultants, we are offering this to some members of that group first. Ultimately we anticipate other qualified physicians will be involved as well,” Askew said.
By having physician investors, the hospital would be able to generate capital to improve the quality of its services, like acquiring new equipment, Askew said.
While no new services are being sought, Askew said the certificate of need, which must be approved by the state Health Services and Development Agency, would allow St. Mary’s “to provide services more efficiently and cost effectively while at the same time create a space that is more patient friendly and physician friendly.”
Covenant Health was seeking to expand its cardiac services at Fort Sanders Regional through a proposed $3.79 million freestanding outpatient center in an existing building on Laurel Avenue.
The project was to be considered by the state in May, but Max Shell, senior vice president of marketing and community relations for Covenant Health, said the health system has decided not to pursue it at this time.
Baptist Interim CEO Janice James said she was aware that both health systems were seeking certificates of need for cardiac catheterization centers but could not say whether Baptist would oppose them.
At this point, James said she is not concerned.
Physicians at East Tennessee Heart Consultants have said the joint venture with St. Mary’s would provide a way for them to see some patients they can’t see now, James said.
“The heart program at Baptist is strong. We have a good relationship with East Tennessee Heart Consultants,” James said.
Rumors that East Tennessee Heart Consultants is leaving Baptist aren’t true, Doiron said.
He points to significant milestones in the group’s long history at Baptist — like implanting Knoxville’s first pacemaker and opening the first dedicated vascular lab in the region — as reasons why the group plans to stay.
This summer, Baptist is scheduled to open a new electrophysiology heart lab at its Blount Avenue hospital, and Doiron said East Tennessee Heart Consultants has already hired an electrophysiologist to work at the facility.
“East Tennessee Heart Consultants wants to do what’s in the best interest of our patients. This has been and will continue to be our primary consideration,” Doiron said. “We want to continue to practice at Baptist as long as we can deliver the excellent health care that our patients deserve and have come to expect.”
In spite of Baptist’s financial hardships and the political environment that has arisen, Doiron said East Tennessee Heart Consultants wants to be “a voice of reconciliation” among the health systems.
“We do have an opportunity to do that,” Doiron said. “We would hope they would all sit down together and try to work this out, but that’s a decision that would be made by the various board of trustees and various hospital system and the administrations.”
—–
To see more of The Knoxville News-Sentinel or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.knoxnews.com.
Copyright (c) 2007, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.