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UTHSCSA
DEAN’S MESSAGE
The University
Health System Sky
Tower will be the site
of the Heart Vascular
Institute, which will
offer multi-discipli-
nary collaborative
care for heart disease.
Courtesy photo
HEART VASCULAR INSTITUTE:
A premier partnership in a premier facility
By Francisco González-Scarano, MD
The University of Texas School of Medicine and University volved in cardiac care. The HVI will bring them all together to offer
Health System (UHS) are collaboratively developing a comprehen- a streamlined and seamless inpatient and outpatient solution. His-
sive Heart Vascular Institute (HVI) that will be a premier model torically, these specialties and subspecialties have worked semi-in-
for the care of patients with cardiovascular-related disease. The dependently, interacting and consulting with one another in the
leadership teams from both institutions are focused on evolving the care of patients, but not working as an integrated team. In this new
cardiovascular service line toward a care delivery model that we be- facility, all cardiovascular and related services will be structured and
lieve will become the norm in the future. function as one, to continually improve the patient experience and
their outcomes.
The opening of the new UHS Sky Tower was a major milestone
in many areas. First, it supports the population growth in San An- CONTIGUOUS PHYSICAL SPACE
tonio and the ability to further develop our healthcare delivery sys- Chief of the Division of Cardiology, Steven Bailey, MD, who has
tem. Additionally, the Sky Tower also will be the site of our HVI,
which will carry multi-disciplinary collaborative care for heart dis- been deeply involved in the planning process, characterizes it as an
ease to an unprecedented level for our region. According to John extension and expansion of what we have been doing for the past
Calhoon, MD, CT Surgery Chair and HVI Director, the HVI fa- 20 years. Cardiology has worked very closely with the surgical spe-
cility’s design answers the question, “How can we absolutely be the cialists for a long time, but they have never had a contiguous phys-
best place for any heart patient?” ical space. Dr. Bailey says he expects to see best-in-class outcomes
in an environment that lowers costs on what he calls “a global scale.”
The HVI will combine the specialties and skillsets that are re- He also points out we will be the first in the region to do this in a
quired for the care of cardiovascular patients. These include the completely comprehensive manner, in a single facility for inpatient
many cardiology subspecialties (invasive, non-invasive, electrophys- and outpatient care.
iology, etc.) as well as cardiothoracic and vascular surgery, anesthe-
siology, cardiac rehabilitation, imaging, plus the many other Dr. Calhoon points out that the HVI will care for children as
diagnostic services, clinical staff and advanced practice providers in- well as adults, calling it a “one-stop shop for cardiac care, for life.”
26 San Antonio Medicine • June 2015
