2 Sacramento-area hospitals get ‘heart-attack center’ status; Mercy San Juan feels left out
Kaiser Permanente and Sutter health systems are trumpeting their first designations as regional "heart attack centers," but the president of Mercy San Juan Medical Center says his facility shouldn't have been left out.
With competition fierce among area hospitals, the recent designation – by a regional emergency services agency – hit a sore spot at Mercy San Juan, which bills itself as the only suburban Sacramento facility with comprehensive cardiac services.
Last week, the Sierra-Sacramento Valley EMS Agency designated two Roseville hospitals, one each for Kaiser and Sutter, as so-called STEMI Receiving Centers. The designation allows paramedics to bypass other hospitals in favor of one of these specialized facilities, which are equipped to handle the most serious types of heart attacks that could require emergency angioplasty.
"Unfortunately, I did not receive notice of an opportunity from this agency to apply for this designation," said Brian Ivie, president of Mercy San Juan.
The hospital, however, has been allowed to apply for the annual designation and is expected to be approved in April, said Vickie Pinette, the EMS agency's regional executive director. "They do qualify," she said.
It is the first time the agency has issued the designations and not all hospitals have the equipment or staffing to qualify, Pinette said. Hospitals pay an annual designation fee of $10,000, she said.
Only three hospitals received the designation within the jurisdiction of the Sierra-Sacramento Valley EMS Agency, whose board comprises county supervisors from seven capital area counties, including Yolo, Yuba and Placer. The third hospital was Enloe Medical Center in Chico.
In the field, paramedics use advanced technology to determine the severity of a patient's heart attack. If one of the designated centers is within a 30-minute ambulance drive, the patient is transported to that facility's emergency room.
While Mercy San Juan is located in Sacramento County, outside the EMS agency's jurisdiction, the hospital serves many residents from nearby Placer County, said Mercy spokeswoman Becky Furtado.