Caritas expanding heart care to suburbs
Caritas Christi Health Care yesterday said it will make advanced cardiac care available at more of its community hospitals, giving suburban patients access to top medical treatment without the potential delay of an ambulance trip to Boston.
As part of what is being called the Caritas Cardiovascular Network, several of the chain's community hospitals will offer onsite cardiac catheterization services, which can aid victims of severe heart attacks.
"Much cardiovascular care can be delivered in the community by highly qualified physicians in specialized centers," said Dr. Jeffrey J. Popma, vice president of the network and director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton. "Patients will be referred to tertiary and quaternary centers only when necessary services aren't available in the community."
The network is part of the strategy by Caritas Christi's new chief executive, Dr. Ralph de la Torre, to turn around the financially strapped six-hospital system, owned by the Archdiocese of Boston. De la Torre, former director of the Cardiovascular Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, became chief executive of Caritas Christi this month.
"This capitalizes on our multiple sites," de la Torre said. "One specialized site in isolation can struggle. If you link several of these sites together, it becomes much more doable."
De la Torre said the details of how doctors will be compensated under the new system are still being worked out. But the decentralized model of cardiac care will help the Caritas Christi chain, he said, because "we're in a position where all volume is good volume."
Severe heart attacks usually involve blocked cardiac arteries, in which the heart muscle becomes starved for blood. Instead of open-heart cardiac bypass surgery to replace blocked arteries, many patients can be treated with stents - small wire-mesh devices which prop open cardiac arteries after they have been cleared to restore blood flow. They can be put in place using a catheter inserted into a leg artery.
A major part of the Caritas Cardiovascular Network involves training the system's doctors and other caregivers in the latest stent procedures, as well as uniformly measuring their performance, to ensure quality care, said Popma.
The network will include Caritas Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, Caritas Norwood Hospital, and Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, he said. Patients who need more advanced care or open-heart surgery may be referred to St. Elizabeth's, the chain's primary teaching hospital.
Other hospitals in the chain are Caritas Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Saint Anne's Hospital in Fall River.
Jeffrey Krasner can be reached at krasner@globe.com.
