Meadowview Regional Medical Center, owned by LifePoint Hospitals of Brentwood, Tenn., has purchased Ohio Valley Heart. The merger of the two entities was effective Tuesday.
The purchase includes OVH diagnostic equipment that will allow the hospital to care for more people with heart disease, including a nuclear medicine camera, stress testing treadmill, and an echocardiogram unit, according to a statement released Wednesday by MRMC CEO Chad Patrick.
The transition of outpatient diagnostic services began earlier this week, with OVH patients now being seen in the hospital’s outpatient diagnostic area located on the first floor of the facility, next to the central lobby and patient check in area.
Although no staffing cuts are expected with the merger, the area is losing one cardiologist in the transition, with the news that Dr. Matthew Shotwell has officially left the practice.
“Dr. Shotwell has been highly instrumental in the establishment of Meadowview’s cardiac program,” said Patrick. “He has contributed significantly to the expansion of quality cardiac care for patients throughout our region. We will certainly miss him, but wish him well in his future endeavors. Our community remains in excellent hands with Drs. Lohman and Srinivasan.”
Corporate Communications Manager Betsy Donahue with King’s Daughters Medical Center in Ashland confirmed Shotwell is joining Kentucky Heart and Vascular Physicians group at KDMC beginning May 1 and will be seeing patients in Ashland and Portsmouth, Ohio.
Cardiologists Dr. Raghuraman Srinivasan and Dr. Eric Lohman have become employees of MRMC and will continue to see patients at the Kenton Station Drive office until approximately June, when they will move into new medical offices on the first floor the hospital, Patrick said.
A benefit of the purchase is that all heart-related procedures, with the exception of open heart surgery, can be performed locally at Meadowview, Patrick said.
“We are very excited about this addition to the Meadowview family,” said Patrick. “The additional equipment allows us to expand our services for cardiac patients, and will benefit our entire medical community as well as the region we serve. The relocation of the Ohio Valley Heart physician practice to the medical office building here on our campus will make receiving care more convenient for patients.”
Patrick referred questions about the purchase price of OVH to corporate offices in Brentwood. LifePoint Media Relations contact Diane Huggins did not return phone messages to The Ledger Independent by press time, Wednesday.
In 2008 MRMC purchased the cardiac catheterization lab from OVH and located the facility within the hospital; doctors from OVH performed the procedures at MRMC, which are referred to as percutaneous coronary intervention or PCI. For patients experiencing a life-threatening heart attack, the goal is to restore blood flow to the heart muscle within 90 minutes of the patient’s arrival at the hospital.
Patrick said dialogue about the purchase of OVH has been ongoing over the last four to five months and at this time, future plans for the building now housing the practice are undetermined.
In addition to expanding its cardiologist services, MRMC has recruited a new orthopedic surgeon to the area: Dr. Bill Kumler comes to Maysville from Columbus and is now practicing locally. Kumler’s wife, Ellen is a pediatrician and has located her practice within Primary Plus.
MRMC has also recruited and received a commitment from a female obstetrician/gynecologist, who will begin practice with Primary Plus in the summer.
Contact Marla Toncray at marla.toncray@lee.net or call 606-564-9091, ext. 275.
For more area news, visit www.maysville-online.com.
