Three Fully Licensed Elective Angioplasty Hospitals Fight to Preserve Patient Safety Rules
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Call on Health Care Administration Board to Block Participation in Unnecessary Experiment
CAMDEN and BROWNS MILLS, N.J. – Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Cooper University Hospital, and Deborah Heart and Lung Center recently announced an effort to preserve patient safety rules that require hospitals performing elective angioplasty to be licensed and capable of performing onsite open-heart surgery in case complications call for prompt, aggressive treatment. View the full-size flyer [672K PDF].
Proposals to weaken the rules will be introduced at the Health Care Administration Board on July 19. NJ Department of Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs has proposed changes to the safety rules so hospitals without onsite cardiac surgical capability can participate in a clinical experiment.
"Eighteen hospitals across the state are already fully licensed to perform elective angioplasty as well as open heart surgery to provide the 'safety net' mandated by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services," said Dr. Jan Weber, Chief, Division of Cardiology Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center. "There certainly is no need to expand elective angioplasty service to hospitals that are not qualified under existing safety regulations. New Jersey's existing safety regulations are supported by clinical guidelines of the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions."
"If New Jersey weakens its safety regulations, patient safety will suffer. Existing studies have shown that angioplasty-related deaths increase 38 percent when elective angioplasty is performed at a center without onsite cardiac surgical backup," said Dr. Joseph Parrillo, Director, Cooper Heart Institute, Cardiovascular and Critical Care Services, Cooper University Hospital.
The campaign will challenge the safety of the elective angioplasty experiment and question whether patients are being properly informed that the experiment violates clinical guidelines. Informational advertisements on the experiment's risks will appear in newspapers around the state.
In a case brought by the three hospitals, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled May 31, 2007 that the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services ignored its own safety rules and regulatory procedures when it allowed nine hospitals to participate in the experiment. None of the nine hospitals perform open-heart surgery, which is required by state regulations in order to protect patients.
If the new rules are not approved, unqualified New Jersey hospitals will stop performing elective angioplasty on November 30, 2007.
Read the Star Ledger's July 18th Editorial.
CAMDEN and BROWNS MILLS, N.J. – Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Cooper University Hospital, and Deborah Heart and Lung Center recently announced an effort to preserve patient safety rules that require hospitals performing elective angioplasty to be licensed and capable of performing onsite open-heart surgery in case complications call for prompt, aggressive treatment. View the full-size flyer [672K PDF].
Proposals to weaken the rules will be introduced at the Health Care Administration Board on July 19. NJ Department of Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs has proposed changes to the safety rules so hospitals without onsite cardiac surgical capability can participate in a clinical experiment.
"Eighteen hospitals across the state are already fully licensed to perform elective angioplasty as well as open heart surgery to provide the 'safety net' mandated by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services," said Dr. Jan Weber, Chief, Division of Cardiology Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center. "There certainly is no need to expand elective angioplasty service to hospitals that are not qualified under existing safety regulations. New Jersey's existing safety regulations are supported by clinical guidelines of the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions."
"If New Jersey weakens its safety regulations, patient safety will suffer. Existing studies have shown that angioplasty-related deaths increase 38 percent when elective angioplasty is performed at a center without onsite cardiac surgical backup," said Dr. Joseph Parrillo, Director, Cooper Heart Institute, Cardiovascular and Critical Care Services, Cooper University Hospital.
The campaign will challenge the safety of the elective angioplasty experiment and question whether patients are being properly informed that the experiment violates clinical guidelines. Informational advertisements on the experiment's risks will appear in newspapers around the state.
In a case brought by the three hospitals, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled May 31, 2007 that the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services ignored its own safety rules and regulatory procedures when it allowed nine hospitals to participate in the experiment. None of the nine hospitals perform open-heart surgery, which is required by state regulations in order to protect patients.
If the new rules are not approved, unqualified New Jersey hospitals will stop performing elective angioplasty on November 30, 2007.
Read the Star Ledger's July 18th Editorial.
