Cardiac Care
Cardiac Services
When patients need cardiac services, they trust St. Joseph's. Since St. Joseph's performed the first open heart surgery in 1958, and was only the third center in the United States to perform angioplasty, it has continued to lead the way in the prevention, detection and treatment of heart disease. Our care is recognized by HealthGrades, Excellus, the Society of Chest Pain Centers and the Society for Thoracic Surgeons.
A. John Merola, M.D. Cardiovascular Center of Excellence at St. Joseph’s Health
The A. John Merola, M.D. Cardiovascular Center of Excellence at St. Joseph’s Health is a dedicated space for the integration of services to enhance the patient experience and to provide for the highest quality of efficient care. St. Joseph’s cardiac program is already the most awarded cardiovascular care in the region, with a Cardiac Surgery program that was ranked among the Top 15 in the nation by Consumer Reports. In addition to a state-of-the-art electrophysiology lab, the Center includes six special procedure rooms, a hybrid operating room, and nearly double the space previously used for these services, the suites in the Center enable our physicians and teams of caregivers to continue to expand and innovate with cutting edge procedures that have been pioneered at St. Joseph’s, like the Trans-catheter Aortic Valve Repair (TAVR) procedure. The A. John Merola Cardiovascular Center of Excellence offers the latest techniques and treatments on an outpatient basis, and is critically important to the health and wellness of CNY residents in particular because heart disease is the 2nd leading cause of early death in our region. The Center is named for A. John Merola, M.D. who has been closely aligned with St. Joseph’s Health for more than 50 years and helped create the family medicine residency program in the 1970s. Dr. Merola was Honorary Chairman for the hospital’s 150th Anniversary Campaign, and has generously donated $3 million contribution toward this project. Click here to learn more.
St. Joseph's is:
Interventional Cardiology
- Named one of HealthGrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Coronary Intervention™ (2013)
- Recipient of the HealthGrades Coronary Intervention Excellence Award™ (2008 – 2010, 2013)
- Ranked Among the Top 10% in the Nation for Coronary Interventional Procedures (2003 – 2010, 2013)
- Five Star Rated for Coronary Interventional Procedures (2003 – 2011, 2013)
Cardiac Surgery
- Ranked Among Top in the Nation for Heart Surgery
- Five Star Rated for Valve Replacement Surgery (2006 – 2010, 2012 – 2013)
- Three Out of Three Star Rated in the Society for Thoracic Surgeons National Database (2012 – 2013)
Related Awards/Distinctions
- An Excellus Blue Distinction Center for Cardiac Care
- An Accredited Chest Pain Center
- Heart Failure Accredited
- The area's only nationally certified Cardiac Rehabilitation Program
- Selected as the only hospital in Central New York to provide Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)
- Only hospital in CNY offering PPM and ICD lead management including lead extractions
These successful outcomes are the result of talent and experience. St. Joseph's physicians, nurses and cardiac technicians consistently care for more patients than any other provider in Central New York.
Each year at St. Joseph's:
- Our cardiac surgeons perform approximately 900 open heart procedures, including 450 coronary artery bypass grafts and 350 valve replacements
- Interventional cardiologists perform more than 4,500 cardiac catheterizations and nearly 2,000 percutaneous coronary interventions annually
- Electrophysiologists conduct more than 300 electrophysiology case studies, including three-dimensional mappings
- Electrophysiologists and surgeons implant approximately 675 cardiac defibrillators and pacemakers
That kind of experience helps St. Joseph's care for its patients in the most excellent, compassionate way.
Additional Information: