Sanger Clinic Lends Its Name to New Heart Care Institute Serving NC and SC

CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Carolinas HealthCare System has
organized a new business unit to guide the growth and development of
cardiovascular services in North and South Carolina.

The newly formed Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute (SHVI) represents a
combination of Sanger Clinic, Charlotte Cardiology Associates and Carolinas
Heart and Vascular Institute. The Institute will continue serving as a
regional referral center for highly specialized care.

Effective July 1, all three entities will begin the transition to Sanger
nomenclature and previous names will be phased out.

More than 420 physicians and support staff will be affected by the new
blending of cardiac services. These personnel currently work in more than 30
full-time and part-time medical offices spread across 16 counties in North and
South Carolina. In addition, a large number of hospital-based personnel
working in cardiac cath labs and operating rooms will come under the SHVI
umbrella.

Joseph G. Piemont, President and Chief Operating Officer at Carolinas
HealthCare, said the new structure "will create a seamless interaction between
the care provided by Sanger and CCA staff in their medical offices and in the
hospital settings in which they serve patients."

Dr. Paul Colavita, current president of Sanger Clinic and Carolinas Heart and
Vascular Institute, will become President of SHVI, reporting to Paul Franz,
Executive Vice President, Physician Services Group.

Colavita said SHVI patients will benefit from the Institute's ability to
coordinate and integrate all aspects of patient care. "In addition," he said,
"patients will profit from the expansion of highly specialized services into
new locations and the sharing of best practices system-wide."

Colavita said the recent granting of chest pain accreditation to multiple
CHS-affiliated hospitals exemplifies the coordinating work that SHVI is well
geared to handle. "A network of accredited chest pain centers," he said,
"ensures that patients can present for treatment at numerous locations, and be
assured that quality standards and training levels meet the highest national
standards."

According to Colavita, the Sanger name was retained because it enjoys
widespread recognition on a regional and national basis. Sanger Clinic was
named in honor of Dr. Paul Sanger, an early Charlotte pioneer in thoracic
surgery and vascular research, who died in 1968.

SOURCE Carolinas HealthCare System

Raymond C. Jones of Carolinas HealthCare System, +1-704-355-3141,
raymond.jones@carolinas.org