Media Release

For: Immediate Release
Date: April 2, 2008

HEALTH Grants Kent Hospital Permission to Establish a Primary Angioplasty Program for Persons Suffering Acute Heart Attack

Today the Director of Health, David R. Gifford, MD, MPH approved a proposal to grant Kent Hospital permission to establish a primary angioplasty program for patients suffering an acute heart attack. This approval follows the March 25, 2008 recommendations from the Health Services Council. 

“This program will provide residents of Kent and Washington Counties suffering a heart attack more rapid access to a procedure that can help save lives”, said Dr Gifford.  “The Health Services Council’s in-depth review of the benefits of primary coronary angioplasty, the ability of Kent to perform this procedure safely, and the needs of the community to make this program effective was instrumental in establishing conditions that Kent must follow when implementing this program.”

The approval will allow Kent Hospital to develop and offer primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), an emergency procedure whereby a stent or balloon is inserted into an artery in the heart to restore blood flow as a result of a heart attack. In order to ensure that Kent implements this program safely and achieves the benefits of primary PCI for the residents of Washington and Kent Counties, the Health Services Council and the Department of Health (HEALTH) included several conditions.  The conditions require that Kent receive oversight and support from Rhode Island Hospital including access to their open-heart surgery program for any emergencies that may occur during a PCI procedure. In addition, several of the conditions help ensure that residents receive access to PCI in a timely manner (which is necessary for this procedure to be successful) and will require Kent to 1) purchase, equip, and maintain EKG units that can transmit results electronically to Kent for all EMS units serving Washington and Kent Counties; 2) conduct initial and ongoing training for EMS personnel in the use and transmission of EKGs; 3) work with area EMS services to develop policies that will allow patients with heart attacks to be directly transported to PCI-capable facilities; 4) develop Memorandums of Understanding with South County, Westerly and Newport Hospitals that will ensure standardized rapid screening and transfer protocols for persons’ suffering acute heart attacks that may benefit from primary PCI; 5) monitor and report to HEALTH how quickly Kent performs PCI (e.g. “door-to-balloon time”); and 6) participate in a national registry on coronary catheterization and PCI and report regularly to HEALTH on quality, outcome, and volume measures comparing Kent with other hospitals nationally in the registry.

A copy of the approval letter can be found on HEALTH’s website at www.health.ri.gov.