Implementation of an Elective PCI Patient Risk Assessment and Exclusion Criteria Tool

New Jersey amended Cardiac Law (P.L. 2021, c. 18) in 2021, granting cardiac catheterization laboratories without onsite cardiac surgery services licensure to perform non-high risk elective percutaneous intervention (PCI) procedures. Patients considered for elective PCI must undergo careful selection, screening, and risk stratification.

Hunterdon Health, a community hospital without onsite cardiac surgery services, recognized the need to establish an elective PCI risk assessment and exclusion criteria tool to be used pre-, intra-, and postprocedure to guide with appropriate patient selection and discharge home the same day of the procedure.

Our aim was the implementation of a novel risk tool at the onset of an elective PCI program. We examined the tool's usage and effectiveness in guiding high-risk lesion identification and same-day discharge.

A community hospital's cardiac catheterization laboratory licensed for non-high risk elective PCI can safely stratify risk and provide high-quality and safe care to the community that it serves.