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St. Vincent, Heart Clinic Arkansas Pushed Out of Saline Memorial

1 min read

By now you’ve heard that Saline Memorial Hospital in Benton has continued the recent trend of hospitals joining forces with cardiology groups by partnering with Arkansas Heart Hospital of Little Rock.

What you might not know is that St. Vincent Health System of Little Rock and Heart Clinic Arkansas started the cardiac program for Saline Memorial in 2008 and unwillingly left the hospital in December. St. Vincent had trained Saline Memorial’s staff and managed the cardiac program while Heart Clinic doctors handled the patients.

But then, in December, the hospital’s board pulled the plug on the arrangement with St. Vincent and the Heart Clinic.

In January, Saline Memorial announced its partnership with the Heart Hospital, but didn’t mention St. Vincent or the Heart Clinic in its announcement.

“Contracting with Arkansas Heart Hospital was just a part of the normal business process of contract review and we are confident that the agreement is in the community’s best interest,” Carla Robertson, Saline Memorial Hospital’s interim CEO, said in a statement to Whispers last week.

After being booted from Saline Memorial, St. Vincent announced in January that it had bought Heart Clinic Arkansas. The clinic’s new name is St. Vincent Heart Clinic Arkansas.

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