Northern Kentucky - St. Luke Hospital West in Florence has been approved by the State of Kentucky to establish an open heart surgery program. The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services approved their Certificate of Need (CON) application today, acknowledging that there is a need for a second open heart program in Northern Kentucky. The CON allows St. Luke West to provide open heart surgery and emergency angioplasty services. The program is expected to be available within a year.

"The St. Luke West open heart program is incredibly important for the entire Northern Kentucky community," said Nancy Kremer, senior vice president of The St. Luke Hospitals. "The St. Luke Hospitals strive to provide the highest quality of health care services to meet all of our community's needs. The St. Luke West program will increase access to these critical heart services for the residents of our growing community and will allow them to receive the high-quality care they need, close to home."

The CON application process is used in Kentucky to ensure enough volume and need exist within each Area Development District to prevent unnecessary duplication of health care services. This assures certain communities have the best access to services, improves quality and controls costs. This will be only the second open heart surgery program in Northern Kentucky.

"Northern Kentucky residents deserve the same level of access to this vital care that other regions of the state currently enjoy, and they should be able to receive this care in Northern Kentucky -close to home," said Senator Katie Stine. "A second open-heart program at St. Luke West will provide this increased access."

"Boone County has the highest growth rate in the state, so we are pleased that St. Luke is dedicated to meeting the needs of our community," added Boone County Judge Executive Gary Moore.

Plans for the open heart program at St. Luke West have already begun, and will continue to move forward.

"The St. Luke Hospitals Board of Directors is in full support of the open heart surgery program at St. Luke West," said Richard Laib, M.D., Chairman of the St. Luke Board.

The $2.9 million dollar open heart surgery program will include the renovation of two operating rooms and state-of-the art equipment. With a recent expansion of the St. Luke critical care unit, the hospital recently added two universal beds. The universal bed concept is an innovative new way to care for critical and cardiac patients. It is designed to improve clinical outcomes, reduce operating costs and enhance patient, family, staff, and physician satisfaction. Several other Health Alliance hospitals with established high-quality open heart programs will serve as mentor hospitals for St. Luke.

In addition to allowing St. Luke to provide open heart surgery, the CON permits physicians to perform emergency angioplasties at St. Luke Hospital West. Angioplasties involve the use of a balloon stent to open clogged arteries. In the state of Kentucky, hospitals must have an open heart surgery program to be able to provide this service.

"From a clinical perspective, it is in the best interests of our patients to have access to a second hospital that performs emergency angioplasties," said Richard Grover, M.D., cardiologist with Northern Kentucky Heart. "Patients who present to St. Luke West with a heart attack will no longer need to be transferred to receive state-of-the-art care. They will be able to have direct angioplasty performed onsite. Outcomes will improve as a direct result of patients receiving definitive therapy sooner."

The St. Luke Hospitals have experience in implementing high-quality surgical programs, as they established the St. Luke Regional Vascular Institute and the Tristate Surgical Weight Loss Center. They have also introduced a number of additional services to fill unmet needs in Northern Kentucky, including opening the St. Luke Physicians for Women offi ces in Falmouth and Crittenden, establishing a Center of Excellence for the treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome, and opening two Sports Health and Wellness Centers.

"St. Luke is dedicated to quality and excellence in patient care," Kremer said. "I can ensure The St. Luke Hospitals will develop a high-quality open heart program."

The St. Luke Hospitals are part of the Health Alliance, an integrated health care delivery system that also includes The Christ Hospital, The University Hospital, The Jewish Hospital, The Fort Hamilton Hospital, Drake Center, West Chester Medical Center and the physicians of Alliance Primary Care. To view other Health Alliance news releases, go to www.health-alliance.com/pressroom .

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