MDC Health & Medical The Expansion of Cardiac Services Discussion

The cardiology department of Smithville Community Hospital wants to  expand the cardiovascular lab to include additional procedure rooms and  equipment. Several cardiologists have mentioned that there seems to be  an increase in the number of patients and the number of cardiac  procedures performed. The hospital CIO was asked to evaluate the request  and provide an initial report to the Board of Directors. The CIO worked  with the VP of clinical operations to write the report. Using the  physician and procedure indices within EHR, the CIO and VP completed a  10-year historical analysis of all cardiac patients and procedures. They  identified inpatient and outpatient procedures, documented the number  of outpatients who were also cardiac inpatients at some point, and  reviewed wait times for scheduling of procedures. Four years of  historical data were available in the current EHR for wait-time  analysis. The previous system was not able to track wait times for  scheduling.

The CIO and VP identified financial data, including cost analysis of  each procedure, how reimbursement of procedure varied by type of  insurance, the average length of stay (if inpatient), profit margins of  each procedure, and MS-DRG analysis performed on inpatient cases. They  performed physician profiles to identify which and how many procedures  were performed by each cardiologist. Using external data provided by the  city government and local economic development council, the CIO and VP  made population projections for the next 20 years and found an increase  in the local population of the over-50 age group. They generated  anticipated cardiac services and procedures using predictive statistical  modeling.

Based on the information the CIO and VP collected, they projected how  many additional staff members and physicians might be needed and made  space allocations for the increased number of procedure rooms.

They are currently investigating the cost of additional equipment  needed and completing a renovation budget and timeline. They expect to  present their findings to the board by the end of the first quarter, and  a final decision should be reached by the end of July.

Identify and elaborate on the various types of medical/physician specialists, nursing personnel, occupational/physical/cardiac therapists, and cardiac surgical/technical staff needed for services to be provided – both inpatient and outpatient.