30,000-- Minus "This is the part that doesn't make sense."

 I just saw that title elsewhere, but it applies in so many ways. When it comes to health care, for instance. Any time you receive a notification from an organization that carries the word "transition," you can be pretty sure that sonething not to your benefit is in the works. And medical organizations are no exception, though the stated premise for the transition is always to better serve the client or the customer or the patient. (Take warning.)

  I was sent a notification from Capital Cardiology Associates, from whom I've received care for over 20 years, though minimal to be sure, for borderline and controlled high blood pressure, until sudden escalation in the year 2023. 

    The message read that CCA , always re-evaluating how they can continue to bring the gold standard of cardiac care to their patients, and in order to fulfill that ongoing commitment, are making changes to how and where to provide certain inpatient services. Thus, the TRANSITION begins. Starting on Jan. 1, 2026,  routine inpatient cardiology services will be provided at Albany Medical Center Hospital and St. Peter's, no longer at Samaritan Hospital in Troy. Thus, they say, they can provide more consistent, comprehensive services with the full strength of team and resources. 

The Troy office at Burdett will remain open, they say, to continue to provide patient care and services. I would say that it seems their staff of more than 35 certified cardiologists is not keen on the idea of traveling to Troy. If so, then Samaritan would be a second rate choice of doctors. 

The Board  says the reason for the change is to consolidate care at AMC and  SPH, which  allows the delivery of more  coordinated care. 

(Whoever set the practice in that location in the first place should have recognized that it was not a good idea for cardiac patients to have to make a left turn to enter the parking lot, while driving uphill and stopping for downhill traffic from the RPI Fieldhouse, but that's beside the point in my diatribe here.) 

 Of course, all upper management, Board of Director decisions are made from the viewpoint of finances. We all have to accept that decision. What we shouldn't have to accept is being insulted as to the reason for that decision. 

  Here is the insult to our collective intelligence and,  even more than insulting, a disregard for the health of patients needing critical care:                                                                                                   "We will no longer provide routine inpatient cardiology services OR EMERGENCY CATHETERIZATIONS at Samaritan Hospital,but will continue to perform outpatient cardiac catheterization at Samaritan Hospital."

  I would propose that of the large staff of cardiologists present at the 2 Albany hospitals,  a qualified cardiologist might consider a presence at Samaritan in the fully functioning Catheterization Lab there when an emergency room evaluation results in the diagnosis of a severely blocked coronary artery, for which the preferred treatment is coronary catheterization and stent insertion. In such cases, time is of the essence, with a time window of 50-90 minutes before the heart is severely damaged or death ensues.

Capital Cardiology has about a dozen of the elite Interventional Cardiologists who perform heart catheterizations and stenting, as well as other cardiac surgeries. Their "large presence" could include those who are willing to travel 10 minutes to Troy to work their magic. And save a life.

  Scenario: A person is at home when he or she feels as if  they might be having a heart attack. Ideally, they don't wait too long before calling 911 Emergency Services. In more rural areas, depending on which district that person resides in, and the distance from the designated Responder, it may take 20 minutes or longer from the time of the call until the ambulance arrives at the afflicted person's home. 

I was informed by a spokesperson from the local Rescue Squad that they are  obligated to transport all cardiac cases to the nearest hospital, so off to Samaritan Hospital, maybe a 15 minute trip, and evaluated there for their condition. If it is deemed that the proper treatment is a trip to the Cath Lab for potentially life saving treatment, and while Samaritan has a state of the art Cath Lab, the patient's Capital Cardiology medical practice will no longer  perform emergency catheterizations there, only scheduled procedures. 

   I have no information as to what  arrangements, if any, are made to transport the patient to one of the Albany hospitals for treatment at their Cath Labs. I called the telephone number included in the email from Capital Cardiology --"Who can I  contact with questions about this change? Call us at 518-292-6000 and our staff will be happy to help."  I called this number on November 5, 2025. The person who answered had no idea what I was talking about, as to answering questions about the change, and said I could call the front desk. 

      TIME IS RUNNING OUT.

  To be continued in Rant #2 Cardio