Spokane, Wash.-based Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center has temporarily paused its heart transplant program due to a staffing shortage.
Providence is helping patients transition to other transplant centers, ensuring they retain their accrued time on the donor waitlist. Patients in the evaluation phase will continue receiving care as referrals are transferred, according to a Nov. 20 news release shared with Becker’s.
The pause follows the departure of one of the program’s two heart transplant surgeons.
“There are vacancies in the program,” Jen York, a Providence spokeswoman, told The Spokesman-Review in a Nov. 20 report. “We don’t have the people to do the transplants.”
The transplant unit has performed six heart transplants this year. The pause affects 18 patients who are either on the transplant waitlist or in the pretransplant evaluation phase and will need to be transferred to other centers, according to the report.
Sacred Heart patients are being transferred to centers including the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Portland, Ore.-based Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, Oregon Health & Science University in Portland and University of Utah Hospitals in Salt Lake City. Patient care will not be disrupted and individuals will not lose their place in line on the national transplant waitlist, according to the spokesperson.
Providence cardiologists will continue to care for waitlisted patients and previous transplant recipients. The pause does not affect the hospital’s other cardiology or transplant programs, including its kidney transplant program, according to the release.
“Providence has a long history of advancing cardiac care in the Inland Northwest, and we remain committed to supporting patients and families with exceptional expertise,” Dan Getz, DO, chief medical officer of Providence Inland Northwest Washington, said in the release. “Our priority is to provide the best possible care for our patients and our community throughout this transition.”
