Heart to heart

A recent agreement between St. Joseph Hospital and Eastern Maine Medical Center that speeds St. Joseph’s plans for a cardiac catheterization lab was an important event for the region’s medical care and a step forward in the relationship between the competing hospitals. The public benefits from both.

The proposed lab has been a three-year adventure for St. Joseph, filled with decisions and counter-decisions from the state’s certificate of need program, several other hospitals seeking the labs as catheterization became more commonplace, EMMC’s opposition, St. Joseph’s own suit against the Department of Human Services, and finally the agreement last week by the two Bangor hospitals. DHS Commissioner Kevin Concannon noted that St. Joe’s request for the lab was helped by the fact that the procedure, which consists of running a tube through a vein or artery toward the heart to look for blockages, has become a more routine part of care in recent years. The lab at St. Joseph’s will cost approximately $1.5 million.

The cost in public good will, as the two hospitals fought over a wide range of issues in recent years, has been far greater. The agreement between EMMC and St. Joseph was news because it was unusual – it has become nearly expected that when one hospital announces plans the other will quickly announce problems the plans create. Particularly as EMMC listens to doctors’ concerns about staffing, recruitment, etc., a fight over the catheterization lab was one it didn’t need.

And that may explain why the details of the agreement are confidential. With both sides mum, the hospitals move beyond one side claiming victory and the other explaining defeat, and both can be seen as contributing equally to the agreement, whatever the background maneuvers. Given the level of animosity that has arisen between them over the years, such a start on a more amiable association is a welcome change.

It couldn’t have been easy for the executives of either institution to put aside differences and announce the agreement. But the level of cooperation suggests the public can expect similar acts of leadership in the future, a further benefit for everyone.