Brandywine Hospital and the Temple University Health System have entered into an agreement to ensure board-certified, cardiovascular surgeons are on staff full-time in Brandywine.

The deal comes hot on the heels of the partnership established between The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, to improve neonatal and pediatric emergency care for families in Bucks County.

The aim of this initiative is to continue the trend of partnering larger hospitals with Philadelphia tertiary-care hospitals in specialist areas such as oncology, cardiology and pediatrics to secure advanced care. This should give closer access and higher quality services to patients without the extra expense of starting their own programs.

In the agreement, Temple heart specialists will perform procedures such as coronary artery bypass and heart valve operations in the Chester County medical center to complement the surgical and medical services already provided by Brandywine’s existing staff. In addition, Chester County residents will be able to receive cardiovascular testing and pre and post operative care locally.

“We are excited to welcome Temple cardiovascular surgeons to Brandywine Hospital,” said Jeff Hunt, CEO of Brandywine Hospital “Their clinical expertise and patient-centered focus are unprecedented in our area. We look forward to working with them.”

Apart from the surgical benefits, representatives of Temple Health’s cardiovascular program will also be implementing quality and patient safety initiatives with the staff at Brandywine, and will work on continuing to improve the overall performance of the cardiac surgery program.

The exact funding terms of the agreement made between the Coatesville Hospital owned and operated by Community Health Systems and the $1.6 billion academic health system based in North Philadelphia have not been made public.

“We are pleased to be a part of this innovative relationship” said Larry Kaiser, chief executive of Temple University Health System. “It will bring Temple’s renowned cardiovascular surgery program closer to where patients live,”