ORLANDO, Fla. (June 11, 2009) – New state rules have cleared the way for patients in the Southwest Community to have elective procedures to unclog their arteries at the hospital in their neighborhood – Dr. P. Phillips Hospital. Dr. Phillips Hospital is the first community hospital in Greater Orlando to provide elective angioplasty and stenting for patients. Before the rule change, state guidelines required these elective procedures be performed only at hospitals with onsite open-heart surgery capabilities. Under previous guidelines patients at Dr. Phillips Hospital needing these elective procedures would have been transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center.
“We know that time is muscle when it comes to the heart,” Mark A. Steiner, MD, an interventional cardiologist who practices at Dr. Phillips Hospital’s Cath Lab. “More timely intervention without delays will help improve outcomes. We are pleased to offer this service for our community in our community.”
Dr. Phillips Hospital has provided diagnostic services in its cath lab since 2000. Taking services one step further to perform an immediate procedure to restore blood flow to the heart, known as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), is even more beneficial to patient care. PCI options include angioplasty and stenting.
“Patients benefit from having a PCI performed in the same setting of initial care,” said Dr. Steiner. “Coordination of care is maintained, treatment begins more quickly, medical resources are used more efficiently and transportation costs are reduced.”
Previous state guideline requirements determining where certain cardiac procedures could be performed date back to years ago when PCIs often required emergent bypass surgery afterwards, explains Dr. Steiner.
“Due to improvements in the technology of angioplasty and stents, specialized training and the experience of our cath lab team, the number of patients needing surgery after a PCI has dropped dramatically,” said Dr. Steiner.
In the unlikely event of needed surgery after PCI, state guidelines require a hospital to be able to transport a patient from a cath lab to a hospital that can provide open heart surgery in less than 60 minutes. Dr. Phillip’s has protocols in place to insure that those patients would be transported from the cath lab-to-surgery at ORMC within the time frame.
In addition to the new elective angioplasty and stenting services offered, Dr. Phillips Hospital continues to provide these immediate cardiac care procedures for patients during heart attacks. The hospital began the later services in February 2008.
Current state guidelines for patients having a heart attack require a door-to-treatment time, also referred to as door-to-balloon time, of 90 minutes or less. Dr. Phillips Hospital’s current time averages 56 minutes.
About Orlando Health
Orlando Health is a $1.5 billion not-for-profit health care organization and a community-based network of nine hospitals and care centers in the Orlando region. The organization, which includes the area’s only Level One Trauma Centers for adults and pediatrics, is a statutory teaching hospital system that offers both specialty and community hospitals. They are: Orlando Regional Medical Center; Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children; Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies; Lucerne Hospital; Dr. P. Phillips Hospital; South Seminole Hospital; South Lake Hospital (50 percent partnership); St. Cloud Regional Medical Center (20 percent partnership) and M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando – the first affiliate of one of the nation’s premier cancer centers The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Orlando Health’s areas of clinical excellence are heart and vascular, cancer care, neurosciences, surgery, pediatric orthopedics and sports medicine, neonatology, and obstetrics and gynecology.
Orlando Health is Central Florida’s fifth largest employer with nearly 14,000 employees and more than 2,000 affiliated physicians, all of whom support our philosophy of providing high quality care and service when it matters most. We prove this everyday with over 100,000 inpatient admissions and more than 600,000 outpatient visits each year. In all, Orlando Health serves 1.6 million Central Florida residents and nearly 3,000 international patients annually. Additionally, Orlando Health provides approximately $198 million in support of community health needs. More information can be found at www.orlandohealth.com.