With the exception of open heart surgery, Utica, N.Y.-based Wynn Hospital will resume all cardiac procedures June 20.
Structural heart procedures will resume June 20, provided a cardiac surgeon is present in the operating room, Mohawk Valley Health System, which owns Wynn Hospital, said in a June 13 update on the status of its cardiac services. Last month, the hospital received an immediate jeopardy citation regarding its open-heart surgery program. Those surgeries remain on pause, while an external agency conducts a review of the service.
Once the external review is finalized, the health system anticipates it will take "a couple of months" to relaunch open-heart surgeries at Wynn. The review is expected to be completed by the end of June, according to the health system.
The immediate jeopardy citation was related to issues with the program's management "and some of the clinical decision making," rather than the facility itself or technology being used, Rick Carvolth, MD, COO of Mohawk Valley Health System, told local news outlets in May. Part of the external review includes whether the program should let go of some of its current cardiothoracic surgeons, he said.
The update comes days after the hospital sent an internal memorandum to staff, notifying them that physician assistants are no longer allowed to perform invasive procedures. It's not clear whether the move is related to the review of the open heart surgery program.