Piedmont, Emory sue to ban heart procedure at Gwinnett

By Craig Schneider

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Emory and Piedmont hospitals have filed lawsuits to prevent Gwinnett Medical Center from starting to perform open-heart surgeries at its Lawrenceville facility.

The lawsuits, filed late Monday, aim to reverse a state approval of Gwinnett’s open-heart program by the commissioner of the state Department of Community Health.

Hospitals seeking to perform such surgeries must undergo a state Certificate of Need review. The Gwinnett proposal was initially approved, then denied by a review panel and then finally approved last month by DCH Commissioner Dr. Rhonda Medows.

The Gwinnett hospital says the program will eliminate the barrier of traveling congested roads to obtain such care in other counties.

The open-heart program, slated to open in 2011, would be the first in Gwinnett.

Emory and Piedmont, both of which perform open-heart surgery, assert that the DCH commissioner erred in reversing the review panel’s denial, which the hospitals say was correct.

Emory officials say Gwinnett residents already have adequate access to eight existing open-heart programs in metro Atlanta.

Piedmont officials say that adding Gwinnett to the mix will influence the overall quality of open-heart surgery, because hospitals need to perform a high number of these procedures to maintain quality.

Gwinnett hospital officials say Piedmont and Emory are just trying to block a plan that has widespread community support.