Inspira Medical Center Mullica Hill, part of Inspira Health, has been awarded its license to provide elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention procedures to patients, effective Dec. 27.
Elective PCI is a scheduled procedure that cardiologists use to open clogged coronary arteries, with stents, in patients diagnosed with coronary artery disease. This minimally invasive treatment restores blood supply to the heart muscle and helps prevent heart attack, heart failure and other forms of heart disease.
Inspira Health is part of Cardiac Partners, along with Cooper University Health Care, which provides patients in the South Jersey region with access to more coordinated and comprehensive cardiac services.
“As an organization committed to providing a safe and compassionate experience, Inspira is always looking for ways to elevate the care we provide across our region to improve the health and well-being of the community,” said Amy Mansue, CEO and president of Inspira Health.
The New Jersey Department of Health only made it possible for community hospitals to provide elective PCI procedures in February 2021. And, although the option to offer elective PCI at Inspira Health is new, the interventional cardiology teams at Inspira are experienced in performing the procedure.
Inspira has been providing full-service diagnostic cardiac catheterization for the past 25 years and emergent PCI procedures since 2009. With the addition of elective PCI at Inspira Medical Center Mullica Hill, the organization is now able to take cardiac care to a new level.
“With the approval to move forward with elective PCI procedures, the cardiac team was able to quickly pivot, and had the opportunity to perform the first elective intervention procedure at Mullica Hill on a diagnostic patient who was a candidate for an intervention,” said Dr. Kurt Kaulback, clinical director of network cardiovascular services at Inspira Health, and member provider with Cardiac Partners at Cooper and Inspira. “These new regulations give Inspira the opportunity to have a greater impact on people’s lives, particularly those in underserved communities. We look forward to treating our patients in their home facility while continuing to provide the highest quality of care.”
Inspira Medical Center Vineland is also in the process of seeking approval to provide elective PCI procedures and, recently, achieved a new milestone. The cardiac team performed its 100th emergent PCI procedure of 2021 in the Vineland cath lab, the first time since the program started in 2013 that it has crossed that milestone in a single year.
