Butler Memorial Hospital says new partnership will broaden patient access, staffing
Butler Memorial Hospital’s partnership between its electrophysiology department and an external medical group will boost patient care by addressing gaps in staffing and access to emerging medical technology, Independence Health officials said Tuesday, Dec. 12.
With the new year, Independence Health will begin partnering with Regional Cardiac Arrhythmia, a medical group based in West Virginia that operates across multiple hospitals.
“(Electrophysiology providers) are sort of ... super specialized providers that deal with electrical issues on the heart to keep the heart beating synchronously, to keep the heart beating period,” said Dr. Richard Begg, medical director of Butler Memorial Hospital's cardiovascular service line. “Anything that has to do with the rhythm of the heart, the beating of the heart, that’s where electrophysiology comes in.”
When asked whether patients would be billed out-of-network charges following the department’s restructuring, Heidi Drennen, executive director for cardiovascular services, said there would be no changes to patient care.
“The services are going to be enhanced,” Drennen said. “They will be uninterrupted, and we will continue to offer patient care, you know, 365 days a year.”
The transition will not change the way patients access the health system, Begg said.
“The department, for example, is under us,” Begg said. “That’s key staff, the department, the offices, the laboratory, the laboratory technicians, the laboratory nurses. Think of this like physicians coming in to supply, to be part of the team and to supply services. They’re not running the electrophysiology department.”
At Butler Memorial, Regional Cardiac Arrhythmia will utilize Optimize EP, a technology platform that helps monitor cardiac devices, manage cardiac remote monitoring data, reimbursement and billing, according to its website.
Dr. Maninder S. Bedi, who serves on Regional Cardiac Arrhythmia’s team of doctors, is the founder and chief marketing officer of Optimize EP.
The decision to partner with Regional Cardiac Arrhythmia was not driven by administration, said Tom Chakurda, chief marketing and communications officer of Independence Health, but was “clinically driven,” to gain a “depth in personnel, depth in technology and depth in service.”
“This was a decision that was based on what is best for the patients, what is best for the (electrophysiology) department, what is best for the overall cardiovascular service that we provide,” Chakurda said.
The decision to partner with the medical group was made by Drennen and Begg, who then approached senior administrators with a proposal after months of discussion, the doctor said.
Drennen said discussion with the medical group began in June. She said Independence Health and Regional Cardiac Arrhythmia came to an agreement in October.
“We left no stones unturned,” Begg said. “We agonized over this for ages. We looked at all sorts of alternatives, rebuilding an infrastructure internally ... we looked at partnering with people. We looked at every angle that we could say, ‘How can we enhance what we already have?’”
Begg said many emerging technologies, scientific and pharmacologic advancements in cardiology are centered around electrophysiology. Some of those technologies would be offered by Regional Cardiac Arrhythmia, he said.
“Everything that comes up, sort of the latest and greatest advancements, a group like (Regional Cardiac Arrhythmia) has access to largely because of their broad experience,” Begg said. “So they really have access to all of these new technologies, and that’s what we’re excited about.”
Begg said the partnership would widen health care access for patients.
“We find across the board that there are issues sometimes with access for patients,” Begg said. “In other words, they’re waiting a month or two months to see a doctor or to see a program. I think (the partnership) significantly impacts the access that patients will have in a positive way.”
Begg said three doctors work in the electrophysiology department. Two doctors left in March after receiving offers to work in academia, he said. The third doctor joined the team with Regional Cardiac Arrhythmia, Begg said.
“That’s what really elicited our challenges in electrophysiology,” Begg said.
The partnership will address the gap in staffing — come Jan. 1, the electrophysiology department will have not one, but four, doctors on staff, Drennen said.
“When we partner with a group that’s a large group like this, we will have access in terms of the need,” Begg said. “In other words, if we find that we’re getting behind, we may be able to access an extra physician that may not usually be here that may be able to help with certain things, laboratory procedures, etc. So (Regional Cardiac Arrhythmia) gives us this big pool of (medical) providers that can help.
“That doesn’t mean that they’re running different providers through here — we have our own provider here with them. But if that provider needs help, if we need to cover a call schedule, if, God forbid, there is an illness, this group is able to service that need sort of seamlessly, because they know what’s going on with the patients.”
“This reflects another drive that we want to provide the most sophisticated services possible ... that there is no need to travel to other areas or to go to Pittsburgh to receive the most sophisticated heart care services,” Chakurda said.
The decision to partner with Regional Cardiac Arrhythmia comes amid a series of financial losses for the recently merged Butler Health System and Excela Health System that form Independence Health.
On Monday, Dec. 11, credit rating agency Fitch Ratings downgraded its outlook on Butler Health System for the third time this year.
Four registered nursing positions within the department were eliminated as part of the transition. In a previous statement, Karen Allen, president of Butler and Clarion Hospitals, said the four employees effected were offered alternative positions within the health system. Independence Health’s Chakurda declined to comment on the matter Tuesday.
