WYOMING — Metro Health-University of Michigan Health and Mercy Health have finalized a joint operating agreement to partner on heart care.
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The two health systems have also named leaders for the new Cardiovascular Network of West Michigan that will launch a new open-heart surgery program.
Dr. Himanshu Patel
COURTESY PHOTO
Dr. Himanshu Patel, a University of Michigan Health cardiac surgeon and a professor of cardiac surgery, will serve as executive director of the Cardiovascular Network of West Michigan. Patel is also section head of adult cardiac surgery at University of Michigan Health’s Frankel Cardiovascular Center in Ann Arbor.
Kristine Todd, clinical service director for heart and vascular services at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s in Grand Rapids, was named the joint venture’s administrative director.
Metro Health and Mercy Health in April announced the formation of the Cardiovascular Network of West Michigan and finalized a joint operating agreement on July 21. Partnering with the Frankel Cardiovascular Center, the two hope to begin performing open-heart surgery at Metro Health Hospital next summer.
Metro Health Hospital in Wyoming is preparing space for the advanced heart care, including coronary artery bypass surgery, cardiac valve repair or replacement, and repair for birth defects.
“This initiative is based on each partner’s overarching goal of providing not only the highest quality care, but also choice for the patients we serve in west Michigan,” Patel said in a statement.
Metro Health received state certificate-of-need approval last spring to initiate what would become the second open-heart program in Grand Rapids along with Spectrum Health. The Cardiovascular Network of West Michigan that formed soon after includes Metro Health-University of Michigan Health, Mercy Health Saint Mary’s in Grand Rapids and Mercy Hospital in Muskegon, which already does heart surgery.
Heart patients seeking care at either health system “will have a seamless experience, without regard to geography,” Mercy Health Muskegon President Gary Allore said. “At whatever site patients seek care, they will have access to the most appropriate and advanced expertise across the network.”
Other Cardiovascular Network of West Michigan leaders named today include associate medical directors Dr. Matthew Sevensma of Metro Health-University of Michigan Health and Dr. Eugene Chung of Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor.
