Barnes doctors will give remote care at another city hospital under new deal

South City Hospital has struck a deal in which stroke specialists at Barnes-Jewish Hospital will provide virtual care to its patients, it said, part of a strategy to boost treatment of those cases. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Services are targeted to begin at South City Hospital Oct. 1. They’re to include training, education, interventions, diagnostics, therapies and reporting, the partners said.

South City’s leader, CEO Gregory Brentano, said the partnership “will enable us to provide the highest level of care to those most critical.”

Barnes said the program, called the Stroke Network, allows its neurologists and radiologists to be “remotely present” at distant hospitals.

“Together with the partner hospital, physicians can diagnose stroke patients, begin timely treatment with a clot-busting drug tPA, and arrange for transport to Barnes-Jewish Hospital, if needed,” it says.

Barnes’ president, Dr. John Lynch, said in a statement that the program “continues our efforts to partner with hospitals throughout the region to improve access and reduce the time needed to receive stroke care.”

Officials with South City, which has its main campus at 3933 South Broadway, have said they hope to treat more heart attack and stroke patients.

One goal of infrastructure upgrades, they said last month, is to this year get ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) heart attack referring center accreditation from the state of Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services.

SA Hospital Acquisition Group LLC, whose members are Lawrence Feigen and Jeff Ahlholm, owns South City. Another member, Ben Klein, sold his share.

The company bid about $17 million for the former St. Alexius Hospital’s real and personal property, changed the name of the facility to South City Hospital and has embarked on millions of dollars in investments there.

To read the full article in the St. Louis Business Journal, click here.