What you need to know
The New Jersey Department of Health has licensed Southern Ocean Medical Center to provide diagnostic cardiac catheterization for all patients.
In May 2021, the New Jersey Department of Health enabled the state’s hospitals to begin an application process, including extensive data collection and a site survey, to receive licensure to become a full-service catheterization lab for diagnostic testing or add an elective angioplasty service to a preexisting emergency angioplasty service. Eight Hackensack Meridian Health medical centers in Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Hudson and Essex counties have applied for expanded services.
“This positions Southern Ocean to potentially apply for licensure as a provider of emergency angioplasty if warranted, giving residents experiencing a heart attack an additional provider to receive life-saving care close to home,” said Kenneth N. Sable, M.D., MBA, FACEP, Hackensack Meridian Health regional president, southern market.
In 2019, Southern Ocean Medical Center added a leading-edge angiography imaging system, the GE Innova IGS 540, to the medical center’s vascular, cardiac, and interventional radiology services, used to accurately diagnose heart, artery and valve diseases. Exercise, nuclear and Persantine/Lexiscan Nuclear Stress Tests are provided by the medical center as well as stress echocardiology and a 12-week cardiac rehabilitation program. The medical center’s freestanding Vascular Surgery and Vein Center provides specialized care and expert diagnosis of arterial and venous disease.