Chau Vo, M.D., is happy some of her heart patients can now have their surgical procedures in the MUSC Health West Ashley Medical Pavilion as an alternative to downtown Charleston. She’s an electrophysiologist, meaning she specializes in regulating heart rhythms. It’s a high-demand field.
“There are only about 4,000 EP physicians in the whole nation taking care of about 300 million patients,” Vo said.
So anything doctors can do to streamline care for those patients is a priority. The new ambulatory surgical center for heart patients in West Ashley is one answer, Vo said.
“It enables us to move some of what we consider simpler procedures out of our major hospital downtown labs and improves access to care for patients with arrhythmias. Patients have a more streamlined experience and the convenience of going home the same day.”
Rachel Kaplan, M.D., another electrophysiologist who sees patients in West Ashley, cited a different benefit. “At the West Ashley site, we're typically able to get them in both sooner, from a weeks-and-months perspective, and sooner in the day. It also helps us redistribute the work to two different locations.”
The procedures offered at West Ashley’s ambulatory surgery heart center include an ablation, the most common procedure in electrophysiology. It eliminates electrical pathways that cause irregular heartbeats. People can also get pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators and undergo other common procedures that don’t require a hospital setting.
Vo said technology has transformed electrophysiology over the last decade. “Many heart rhythm procedures that once required hospitalization can now be performed safely in specialized ambulatory surgical centers for carefully selected patients.”
Research shows that the level of safety is the same as in hospitals, Vo said. “In any procedure, patient safety standards remain paramount regardless of the operating locations. The goal of ambulatory surgical centers is not to replace hospitals but to provide another high-quality setting for patients who can safely undergo procedures outside the hospital.”
Kaplan said the expansion into ambulatory surgery shows the strength of the growing MUSC Health Heart and Vascular team, which includes specialists who not only take care of patients but also teach at the Medical University of South Carolina and do research to move the field of heart care forward.
“As our team expands, we're able to be more flexible in when and where we do things. That means patients can go to a place that is often easier for them to get to – and has convenient parking.”
