John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System To Consolidate Cardiac Services
The board of the John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System has approved plans to construct a new cardiovascular center on the health system's Concord campus to "streamline care and merge highly trained cardiac specialists and technology into a single program," the Contra Costa Times reports (Kleffman, Contra Costa Times, 8/5). In March, a committee of doctors and others from John Muir and Mt. Diablo medical centers began to explore the possibility of consolidating their open-heart surgery programs (California Healthline, 3/8).
The cardiovascular center, which will be in a new building next to Mt. Diablo Medical Center, is scheduled for completion by 2009. Under the plan, John Muir Medial Center will still provide some cardiovascular services, such as emergency care for heart attacks, arrhythmias and strokes, and trained cardiac staff will remain on both campuses. The cardiovascular center will be part of a $110 million building project at Mt. Diablo to meet state-mandated seismic requirements (Contra Costa Times, 8/5).