Community hospital scores $4M award to beef up interventional radiology services

A New York community hospital has scored $4 million in public funding to help expand its interventional radiology services, leaders announced Monday.

NYC Health + Hospitals said the money will allow it to provide patients with access to a “state of the art” suite for IR procedures. They plan to treat a broader range of conditions that will include vital organ angiography, port and stent placement and women’s health procedures such as uterine fibroid embolization.

New York City Council Member Diana Ayala secured the money through fiscal year 2024 capital funding, NYC Health said Sept. 11.

“We are grateful to Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala for awarding this capital funding to upgrade our interventional radiology suite and purchase critically needed clinical equipment,” Cristina Contreras, CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan, said in an announcement. “As a community hospital, our goal is to ensure that our patients have access to quality healthcare as close to home as possible.”

The hospital said it also will use the funds to purchase new anesthesia monitors. Ayala previously secured $4.9 million in capital funding for Metropolitan in 2023, which it used to purchase a new CT scanner, C-arm and ultrasound units.

NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan serves residents of East Harlem, northern Manhattan and neighboring communities and is part of the largest municipal healthcare system in the nation, serving 1 million New Yorkers annually.

Marty Stempniak

Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic. 

Around the web

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.

The all-in-one Omni Legend PET/CT scanner is now being manufactured in a new production facility in Waukesha, Wisconsin.