Arkansas Heart Hospital reaches business goals.

After almost eight months in the heart business, officials at Arkansas Heart Hospital say they are right on target and pleased with the success they've had.

Arkansas Heart Hospital, which is owned by the publicly traded company, MedCath Inc., is preparing to open another seven-bed unit, bringing the total number of beds to 56. At full capacity the hospital will be able to accommodate up to 84 admitted patients. The hospital has been admitting patients since March.

Last week the hospital received provisional accreditation from the federal Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. The accreditation is in addition to Medicare approval, which was granted in March.

Full accreditation can't be obtained until the facility is open for more than one year, says Vickie Wingfield, vice president for business development at the hospital.

"We did so well in the process that we didn't get one recommendation," Wingfield says. "That's rare."

Recommendations are cited by the joint commission for areas in a hospital that need improvement. In six months, the commission will return to Arkansas Heart Hospital for a more extensive review of charts and other records. Once that is complete, the facility will be eligible for full accreditation, Wingfield says.

"We feel very positive about this," she says. "They always identify areas where there can be improvements, but they didn't here. We're excited."

Hospitals have the option to receive an early review or can wait until its been in operation for a year. Wingfield says Arkansas Heart Hospital opted to go ahead with the survey to get the ball rolling.

The hospital is slowly opening up other beds in seven-at-a-time increments. Wingfield says all the beds will not be opened at one time because of staffing concerns. She says once enough new patients are admitted, forcing the need for more beds, the units are added.

"We want to keep all the units relatively full," she says. "The units have been added deliberately and carefully. We can only stock so many shelves and clean so many times before people sit around and twiddle their thumbs. We let our volumes get where they are level for several weeks, then we add a unit."

In addition to the provisional accreditation and the increase in the number of open beds, Arkansas Heart Hospital boasted a profit within the first four months of being open in west Little Rock. Hospital administrators say it hit the black in June, well ahead of expectations.

Wingfield maintains the MedCath corporate line and refuses to release specific numbers that show the level of profit for the hospital.

"We did post a profit, but my directive from corporate is that I can't release specific numbers," she says. "I am not at liberty to release any numbers like that. We can talk about philosophies."

MedCath, a Charlotte, N.C.-based company, reported increased revenue for fiscal 1997, which reflected increases at its Texas and Arkansas facilities.

All numbers reported by the company are consolidated figures. Revenue figures for Arkansas Heart Hospital won't be available until early next year, when they are reported to the facility's Medicare provider and available to the public.

Even though the hospital focuses on cardiac and vascular procedures, it does offer full emergency room services. Wingfield wouldn't comment on how much of the hospital's business is generated. through the emergency room. She does say, however, that doctors who work the emergency room evaluate patients' conditions who come in for anything from stitches to heart attacks.

If the patient needs treatment for cardiac or vascular problems they may be admitted to the Heart Hospital. If the patient needs treatments not related to the heart, she says they are transferred to another area medical facility.

Where Are They Coming From?

Most of the patients who are being admitted into the Heart Hospital are from the four-county region of central Arkansas: Pulaski, Faulkner, Saline and Grant.

With the opening of Arkansas Heart Hospital, Baptist Health and St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center say they've noticed no decline in the number of cardiac procedures they perform. Neither hospital would release specific numbers for 1996 or 1997 or the number of procedures that were performed in those two hospitals.

Lyndon Finney, a spokesman for Baptist, says the competition for cardiovascular procedures is fierce in the central Arkansas market, and the introduction of Arkansas Heart Hospital pushes the competition a little higher.

Scott Moseley, a spokesman for St. Vincent, agrees.

"It has had some effect on most hospitals in the market," Moseley says. "It does change the dynamics."

Both Finney and Moseley say promoting cardiovascular services at their two hospitals is no more important now than it was before Arkansas Heart Hospital opened its doors.

"It is a strong product line," Finney says. "It makes up one of the largest percentages of in-patient revenue at Baptist."

Moseley says heart procedures are an important part of St. Vincent's bottom line as well. Without discussing any increase in expenditures to promote his hospital's heart business, he says St. Vincent believes the best way to maintain the number of heart procedures is to provide high-quality results.

"We feel that's the key, not promotion," he says.

Who Does the Work?

There are 200 doctors who work at Arkansas Heart Hospital, and like doctors at other facilities, these have the right to practice wherever they are approved to do so.

Wingfield says none of the doctors at Arkansas Heart Hospital practice there exclusively.

At Baptist, 18 of 58 heart doctors practice at the Heart Hospital.

Finney says physicians who refer patients to both facilities don't pose problems for Baptist.

Moseley did not provide a number of doctors who work at both St. Vincent and Arkansas Heart Hospital.