The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

July 15, 2008

Manchin still mulling changes to cardiac care

By Carl “Butch” Antolini

With a 30-day decision period set to expire this week, Gov. Joe Manchin is still considering proposed changes to the standards West Virginia hospitals must follow when offering cardiac catheterization services.

The revisions, put forth by the state Health Care Authority, would change the current regulations and clear the way for numerous hospitals in the state, in addition to the four current facilities already providing full scale heart services, to offer both diagnostic and therapeutic catheterizations.

“We are still gathering information and I know that he was having additional discussions about it this (Tuesday) morning,” said Lara Ramsburg, communications director for Gov. Manchin. “The governor is looking closely at the technical issues as well as the overall issues and we don’t expect a decision to be made until the deadline, which is Friday.”

While the path is open for most other geographical areas in the state to be served by these suggested updates, there is a clear fear among many in this region’s medical and health services community that Southern West Virginia is being left behind.

Earlier this month Karen Bowling, chief executive officer at Raleigh General Hospital, said the revisions would exclude her facility from bringing on highly skilled, highly paid interventional cardiologists to perform the complete gamut of catheterization procedures because RGH is located within one hour of an existing hospital that offers the service (Charleston Area Medical Center), a clear point in the new standards.

“It should be everyone’s goal to make certain we can provide the gold standard of treatment here in Southern West Virginia,” Bowling stated. “If these revisions aren’t sent back to be changed so it reflects that, then we are the only part of the state which is being left out.

“The whole idea should be to improve the public’s access to that gold standard of health care.”

Despite Bowling’s assertions, Health Care Authority executive director Sonia Chambers says she feels the revisions are adequate enough to address RGH’s current concerns, but acknowledged that there are “conflicting opinions” when it comes to interpreting the standards.

— E-mail: bantolini@register-herald.com

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