Arizona Heart Institute Physicians Endorse Alliance With Vanguard Health Systems

PHOENIX, AZ–(Marketwire – August 12, 2010) –  The Arizona Heart Institute is pleased to announce its support of the newly integrated alliance between Vanguard Health Systems (Nashville, TN), Arizona Heart Institute, and Arizona Heart Hospital. This follows Vanguard’s recent announcements to acquire the Arizona Heart Institute (AHI) and the Arizona Heart Hospital (AHH). If approved, both AHI and AHH would join Vanguard’s Abrazo Health Care system which includes five hospitals throughout the Phoenix area, Abrazo Medical Group, and two health plans, Phoenix Health Plan and Abrazo Advantage.

“The Arizona Heart Institute physician-member investors in the Arizona Heart Hospital enthusiastically endorse this sought-after partnership,” said Edward B. Diethrich, MD, founder and medical director of Arizona Heart Institute and Arizona Heart Hospital. “With AHI and AHH as Vanguard entities, both organizations would operate under a single leadership and management, providing the opportunity to strengthen and streamline all aspects of patient care from diagnosis through treatment and rehabilitation. Also, this places the new organization in a better position to compete for insurance contracts and leverage the capital and management skills associated with a larger corporation,” according to Diethrich.

The Arizona Heart Institute out-patient physician practice is part owner in the Arizona Heart Hospital, LLC, a 59-bed in-patient facility owned by the North Carolina-based MedCath Corporation. Earlier this year, MedCath Corporation announced its plans to sell the Arizona Heart Hospital.

“For many months, we have been evaluating several potential suitors to acquire the Arizona Heart Hospital and the Arizona Heart Institute. In Vanguard, we found a natural fit,” commented Diethrich. “While Vanguard offers us the possibility of more scalable and reproducible programs, they too are committed to addressing the issues most important to Arizona Heart — preservation of our name and identity, support of our tradition of research and education, and exemplary patient care.”

Since AHI’s inception in 1971, AHI’s clinical research and medical education activities have been led and operated by the for-profit Arizona Heart Institute which is known for a long list of achievements including Phoenix’s first heart transplant, Arizona’s first coronary stent, its pioneering role in aortic aneurysm endografting, and the world’s first hybrid endovascular suite. During the campus reorganization, AHI recently transferred its research and education programs to the Arizona Heart Foundation, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization. “While these programs will continue under the direction of the AHI physicians who over many years have worked hard to make them successful, the Foundation will be in a much better position on the operational and administrative fronts to apply for research grants, fundraise, partner with academic centers, and continue to improve programs like International Congress,” said Diethrich.

“We believe that this new alliance with Vanguard in collaboration with the non-profit Arizona Heart Foundation accomplishes the potential for escalated excellence in cardiovascular research, a tradition that has long been the cornerstone of the Arizona Heart mission,” according to Venkatesh G. Ramaiah, MD, Director of Peripheral Vascular Research at the Arizona Heart Institute. “The partnership enables us to expand our clinical research efforts to supply leading edge technology and research for both diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. These efforts in the past have yielded enormous capabilities in caring for patients with serious blood vessel and heart ailments. We anticipate under this new collaboration that even more exciting and productive accomplishments will occur in the near future,” continued Ramaiah.

“Since the inception of the Arizona Heart Institute over 40 years ago, medical education has been a high priority,” said Julio A. Rodriguez-Lopez, MD, Director of Peripheral Vascular Surgery and the Fellowship Program at the Arizona Heart Institute. “The training of physicians, nurses, and technical staff has distinguished us as an education leader. The new affiliation with Vanguard and our expanded relationship with the Arizona Heart Foundation will assure continued advancement in our educational endeavors.”

About Arizona Heart Institute

Arizona Heart Institute is among the world’s leading providers of cardiovascular care. This visionary organization was founded in 1971, quickly evolving into the country’s first freestanding outpatient clinic solely dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart and blood vessel disease. Since then, Arizona Heart Institute has grown to expand treatment and research options with the opening of Arizona Heart Hospital in 1998 and the dedication of Arizona Heart Institute Translational Research Center in 2007. Through these unique facilities, Arizona Heart Institute offers the most contemporary and comprehensive approach to cardiovascular medicine and an unmatched level of specialty care. For more information, visit www.azheart.com.