Heartland Regional Medical Center partners with SLU School of Medicine to enhance heart care
MARION - A collaboration that has been in the works for the last few years has finally been realized as it was formally announced Thursday by Heartland Regional Medical Center officials that the hospital has now partnered with the Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
The main acquisition for the hospital is Dr. Ali Mehdirad, a nationally recognized cardiologist in the field of electrophysiology. Through the River to River Heart Group at HRMC, Mehdirad will work with referring physicians to treat difficult cardiac cases - specifically in the areas of arrhythmia management and device implants for cardiomyopathy.
Mehdirad is a professor of cardiology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and is a SLUCare Physician Group electrophysiologist. He will be on the HRMS campus two days a month.
"This is very exciting," Mehdirad said. "The cardiology team here is very up to par. I see rapid growth in our relationship with Heartland."
Mehdirad added that the partnership with HRMC is his group's "first real association" with an outside entity. He credited the medical staff at Marion and Heartland CEO Melisa Adkins for speeding up the collaboration process.
Adkins said that adding Mehdirad to her team of heart docs is exciting to her, too.
"This is only the beginning of what we are going to be able to offer (our patients) moving forward," she said. "I feel that this partnership will be very well received in the community and region, especially by those heart patients who don't like to drive to St. Louis to receive their care. For us to be able to offer this level of care is very rewarding for us here at Heartland."
Adkins said HRMC physicians, nurses and technicians may also now add to their training at Saint Louis School of Medicine as part of the agreement.
Dr. Michael Lim, an interventional cardiologist and co-director of the Center for Comprehensive Cardiovascular Care at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, said he is looking forward to the new partnership.
"Patients have a deep interest in getting the best possible care locally and that's what we can provide - the best possible care at the best possible location."
Lim said most physicians with the credentials of Mehdirad are only interested in practicing in the bigger cities. That's why this collaboration, he said, is so unique.
"It should be a great experience. We have quite a collection of cardiologists here."
Hans Driessnack, Chief Operating Officer at Heartland, said the new association expands beyond cardiology.
"It's about a vision we have (to raise the quality of care at the hospital) and seeing that vision come to fruition."
Dr. Lovely Chhabra, an invasive non-interventional cardiologist with the River to River Heart Group at HRMC, said he welcomes the changes.
"We're all excited to have Dr. Mehdirad on our team," Chhabra said. "This is now a very strong cardiology group. We can now provide much more complex care for our heart patients."<object id="Extra Pictures" type="x-im/image" uuid="3F56D71A-C0A4-4ECE-A76B-0DEF6100468E"><links><link rel="self" type="x-im/image" uri="im://image/3F56D71A-C0A4-4ECE-A76B-0DEF6100468E.jpg" uuid="3F56D71A-C0A4-4ECE-A76B-0DEF6100468E"><data><title><![CDATA[