CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gov. Joe Manchin has cleared the way -- with one exception -- for medium-size hospitals to offer life-saving heart procedures without on-site cardiac surgery units.

The regulations -- approved by the state Health Care Authority last month and signed by the governor this morning -- allow cardiologists at community hospitals to perform angioplasties and other procedures to unclog blocked and narrowed arteries to the heart.

At least seven West Virginia hospitals are expected to seek approval to begin performing life-saving cardiac catheterization procedures.

"Most importantly, this will save lives," said Dan Lauffer, chief executive officer of Saint Francis Hospital, which has been offering cardiac catheterizations as part of a state demonstration project the past four years. "Obviously, angioplasties can be done safely in smaller institutions if quality is the focus."

The governor's approval came with one exception. He wants the Health Care Authority to revise a section of the new standards that regulates elective angioplasties.

The new rules stipulate that the Health Care Authority would give special consideration to hospitals more than an hour apart -- by medical transport time -- that want to offer elective heart catheterizations.

That would seemingly hurt the chances of a hospital, such as Raleigh General in Beckley, of receiving the state's OK because the facility is within an hour's drive of Charleston Area Medical Center.

CAMC and other large hospitals opposed the Health Care Authority's changes, saying the standards would put patients in danger and drive up health care costs. Only six hospitals in the state, including CAMC, offer open-heart surgery.

Executives at the larger hospitals alleged that the community hospitals wouldn't have enough patients to maintain high-quality programs.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gov. Joe Manchin has cleared the way -- with one exception -- for medium-size hospitals to offer life-saving heart procedures without on-site cardiac surgery units.

The regulations -- approved by the state Health Care Authority last month and signed by the governor this morning -- allow cardiologists at community hospitals to perform angioplasties and other procedures to unclog blocked and narrowed arteries to the heart.

At least seven West Virginia hospitals are expected to seek approval to begin performing life-saving cardiac catheterization procedures.

"Most importantly, this will save lives," said Dan Lauffer, chief executive officer of Saint Francis Hospital, which has been offering cardiac catheterizations as part of a state demonstration project the past four years. "Obviously, angioplasties can be done safely in smaller institutions if quality is the focus."

The governor's approval came with one exception. He wants the Health Care Authority to revise a section of the new standards that regulates elective angioplasties.

The new rules stipulate that the Health Care Authority would give special consideration to hospitals more than an hour apart -- by medical transport time -- that want to offer elective heart catheterizations.

That would seemingly hurt the chances of a hospital, such as Raleigh General in Beckley, of receiving the state's OK because the facility is within an hour's drive of Charleston Area Medical Center.

CAMC and other large hospitals opposed the Health Care Authority's changes, saying the standards would put patients in danger and drive up health care costs. Only six hospitals in the state, including CAMC, offer open-heart surgery.

Executives at the larger hospitals alleged that the community hospitals wouldn't have enough patients to maintain high-quality programs.

In 2002, the Health Care Authority approved three demonstration sites -- Saint Francis, Weirton Medical Center and United Hospital Center in Clarksburg -- to see whether heart catheterizations could be done without surgery backup. A consultant hired to evaluate programs gave them high marks.

The pilot programs are expected to request the state's permission to perform cardiac procedures on a permanent basis.

Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston also plans to apply for approval.

"We've taken a very close look at data gathered over several years, and a number of other facts about the ability of our hospitals to perform heart angioplasty procedures that have the potential to save hundreds of lives, especially given our state's high heart disease rates and rural nature," Manchin said in a prepared release.

The standards come with stipulations. Hospitals that want to offer emergency angioplasties must perform at least 36 a year. And those that want to perform elective cardiac procedures must do at least 200 per year.

The standards became contentious because angioplasties are one of the few profit-making services that hospitals provide.

In recent weeks, larger hospitals have run advertisements, urging Manchin to reject the new standards. Medium-size hospitals responded with ads, encouraging him to approve the regulations.

"This decision, in its entirety, is solely based on one objective," Manchin said, "to provide all of our citizens, regardless of their location, access to the best possible medical care in their time of need."

Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com or 348-4869.