Proposed Open Heart Surgery Program

Fulfilling Our Community’s Compelling Need

Consistent with Southern Regional Health System's (SRHS) community mission and commitment to improving the health of its patients, SRHS intends to seek permission from the State to offer open heart surgery to address and improve the accessibility of open heart surgery services to the citizens of Clayton, Henry, Fayette, and other Southern Crescent Counties.

It's our responsibility.

Since 1979, we have provided robust cardiac care, but there are inherent limitations to what we can do without an open heart surgery program.  With open heart at Southern Regional, future patients won't have to travel Atlanta's clogged roadways for access to time-sensitive critical cardiac care.

We're ready.

Southern Regional already has state-of-the-art operating rooms and the support space necessary for open heart surgery.  Southern Regional began providing diagnostic cardiac catheterization services to the community in 1979, and has since grown its cardiac and vascular programs to include an accredited Chest Pain Center, a cardiac rehabilitation program, and many other services.

Facts and Figures

Despite our significant progress, gaps in care remain. There are inherent limitations in what Southern Regional can do without an open heart surgery program at the hospital. Our goal is to offer a full range of cardiac services in the community. By bringing comprehensive care to the community, and eliminating or reducing delays in treatment, the project also will improve quality of care and save lives.

As illustrated by the following factors, there is a compelling community need for an open heart surgery program at Southern Regional Health System to bring comprehensive heart services to the Southern Crescent.

Clayton County Facts

• Clayton County is the fifth most populous county in Georgia, and each of the larger counties is approved to offer open heart surgery.
• Clayton County is a diverse community with a large percentage of patients who are uninsured or underinsured.
• Clayton County has the second highest number of residents living below the federal poverty level of any metropolitan Atlanta county, and individuals living below the federal poverty level have documented problems accessing health services.
• Clayton County has the highest proportion of African American residents of any metropolitan Atlanta county, African Americans have disproportionately high incidence of major cardiovascular disease, and mortality rates for African American residents in Clayton County experienced a significant increase in recent years.

Henry and Clayton County Facts

• Over half a million residents live in Clayton and Henry Counties combined. By 2015, over 638,000 residents, almost 6% of the State, will call Clayton or Henry County home.
• In 2008, Clayton and Henry Counties combined generated 320 adult open heart surgery cases. All of these procedures, regardless of whether emergent, urgent, or elective, had to be performed outside of the community.
• Henry and Clayton Counties have some of the highest volumes of residents affected by cardiac conditions.
• Annually, almost 1,000 patients from Clayton and Henry Counties must travel to Atlanta for cardiac interventions in the form of open heart surgery or angioplasty at a facility with on-site open heart surgery back-up.
• In 2009, nearly 300 residents of Henry and Clayton Counties underwent open heart surgery, the third and fifth highest volume of open heart surgery of the counties in Georgia without open heart surgery services.

Southern Regional Facts

• Three and a half years ago SRHS sought and received approval to bring angioplasty (or PCI) services to the Southern Crescent, which has enabled us to prevent delays in care for certain heart attack patients and save lives. However, there are inherent limitations in what SRHS can do without an open heart surgery program at the hospital. The goal is to offer a full range of cardiac services in the community.
• SRHS was one of 10 Georgia hospitals selected in 2006 to provide angioplasty services (or PCI) under the CPORT study conducted through Johns Hopkins. Since SRHS began offering angioplasty services, it has become one of the highest volume CPORT facilities in the CPORT study in Georgia and nationally.
• Southern Regional has one of the busiest emergency departments in the state with over 78,000 visits annually (the seventh highest in the state), including approximately 7,000 patients annually presenting with cardiac-related conditions.
• Southern Regional also serves a national and international patient base with cardiac conditions given its location relative to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
• Distances and travel times for patients presenting in Henry County are even greater. SRHS's proposed program will reduce travel times by more than 42% from northern Henry County, and even more from points further south.