GREENVILLE—Officials at Nash Health Care Systems and the Boice-Willis Clinic in Rocky Mount today announced University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina in Greenville has been chosen as the tertiary partner to explore improvements in the delivery of specialized heart care services for people in Nash and surrounding counties.

Larry Chewning, chief executive officer (CEO) of Nash Health Care, and Dave McRae, UHS CEO, explained the developing partnership will dramatically improve cardiovascular services in the region and will likely save untold numbers of lives in the process.

“The focus here is to offer high-quality heart services in our four-county service area that Nash Health Care Systems has traditionally served,” Chewning said. “Along with our gifted physician partners, our goal is to provide a seamless pattern of cardiology care, maximizing delivery close to home.”

UHS’ McRae said, “This partnership demonstrates a joint commitment to increasing the delivery of cardiovascular care in eastern North Carolina. The combined forces of UHS, Nash Health Care and the Boice-Willis Clinic will mean greater access to new cardiovascular services in this area to rival the best care across the nation.”

Dr. Nick Patrone, president of Boice-Willis Clinic, said the expanded cardiology program at Nash Health Care will provide a new level of cardiology service in Rocky Mount.

“We’re excited about being able to provide services in Rocky Mount that we previously had to perform at other medical centers,” Patrone said. “We are pleased to be collaborating with UHS to make it happen.”

The affiliation agreement means UHS will help Nash Health Care develop and expand its cardiovascular offerings to patients in its service area through a new heart center in Rocky Mount jointly funded by both parties. Physicians at the Boice-Willis Clinic will provide those services.

The heart center would be affiliated with the new state-of-the-art East Carolina Heart Institute at Pitt County Memorial Hospital (PCMH) in Greenville. The Nash Heart Center could eventually serve as a satellite-training site for students and residents affiliated with the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.

The new agreement will expand existing interventional cardiology (such as angioplasty) and add new services, such as electrophysiology. Interventional cardiology is a branch of medicine that deals specifically with the catheter-based treatment of structural heart diseases. The practice often involves angioplasty, also know as percutaneous coronary intervention or PCI. It is a procedure in which a catheter-guided balloon is used to open a narrowed coronary artery. Doctors place a stent (a wire-mesh tube that expands to hold the artery open) at the narrowed section during angioplasty. An electrophysiology study is a test that records the electrical activity and the electrical pathways of the heart. Doctors use this test to determine the cause of an irregular heart beat and the best treatment for the disorder.

These and other specialized heart treatments will be among those performed by cardiologists from the Boice-Willis Clinic in the Nash Heart Center.

Steve Lawler, president of PCMH, said the partnership would improve the access to and delivery of high-quality heart services because people in the four-county Nash Health Care patient service area will be able to get the needed specialty care more quickly closer to home. PCMH is the tertiary hospital within the UHS network of hospitals, and it delivers cardiovascular services as the East Carolina Heart Institute.

“The expert physicians and teams at the East Carolina Heart Institute at Pitt County Memorial Hospital stand ready to help Nash Health Care develop a more comprehensive program of heart services,” Lawler said. “The result will be shared expertise that will create efficient, high-quality care for the people in this part of our region.”

Dr. W. Randolph Chitwood Jr., director of the Heart Institute, said the partnership represents steps toward the mission to improve cardiovascular care delivery.

“We will be ensuring high-quality care is available and delivered to the people of eastern North Carolina,” Chitwood said.

Hospital leaders said the governance and control of Nash Health Care will not change and remains with the Board of Commissioners, local medical staff leadership and the systems’ executive management team.

Nash Health Care is a not-for-profit health care authority composed of four distinct hospitals on one campus: Nash General Hospital, Nash Day Hospital, Coastal Plain Hospital and the Bryant T. Aldridge Rehabilitation Center.

The Boice-Willis Clinic was established in 1914 by two surgeons, Dr. E.S. Boice and Dr. B.C. Willis, and has developed into one of the largest and oldest multi-specialty "physician-owned" practices in eastern North Carolina.

University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina Inc., a mission-driven, not-for-profit corporation, owns, leases or has a majority membership interest in six eastern North Carolina hospitals and has management agreements with two others. UHS includes Albemarle Health, Bertie Memorial Hospital, Chowan Hospital, Duplin General Hospital, Heritage Hospital, Outer Banks Hospital, Pitt County Memorial Hospital, Roanoke-Chowan Hospital, University Home Health and Hospice; ViQuest; and physician practices and is affiliated with the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. On the web at www.uhseast.com