Southampton Hospital has received approval from the New York State Department of Health to create a cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology laboratory at its Audrey and Martin Gruss Heart and Stroke Center.
“When completed, the services will provide East End residents and visitors with life-saving diagnostics and treatment here, in their community,” the hospital said in a March 14 press release announcing the approval. “Access to cardiac catheterization without having to be transferred by ambulance to another facility can mean the difference between life and death.”
“We greatly appreciate the Department of Health for recognizing the critical need for a facility of this kind on the South Fork of Long Island,” said Southampton Hospital president and CEO Robert Chaloner.
“This approval brings critical care technology close to home for many people and it is a harbinger of the significant technical advances we will see through our partnership with Stony Brook Medicine,” Chaloner said.
Adding this service will promote improvements in cardiac health outcomes for residents in eastern Suffolk County, the hospital said.
The state this month also gave final approval for cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology labs at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead. State DOH staff recommended approval only for the Riverhead site, but the commissioner of health sided with the public health council, which, citing the region’s geography, recommended the facilities be permitted at both PBMC and Southampton.
The cardiac catheterization laboratory will be an adult PCI-capable laboratory where patients will undergo cardiac catheterization and coronary angiography procedures to define coronary anatomy and treat stenoses and blockages when indicated using percutaneous interventions such as stenting.
The program will be operated under the clinical oversight of Stony Brook University Hospital and policies and procedures currently in place at SBUH for its cardiac catheterization and EP services will be incorporated into the operation of the laboratory at Southampton Hospital.
