Louisiana Heart Hospital Names Steve Blades Interim CEO

LACOMBE, La., Sept. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cardiovascular Care Group (CCG) announced today that it has named Steve Blades to serve as the interim chief executive officer for the Louisiana Heart Hospital (LHH) on the Northshore.  CCG acquired the hospital last year from the MedCath Corporation.  Blades will replace Charles Nasem who has served as CEO for the past nine months and is leaving to pursue a new opportunity in Oklahoma City.

"Steve Blades is an icon in cardiovascular medicine with more than 30 years of experience in practice management and delivery design.  His work in physician integration at LHH over the past year has produced remarkable results," said Steve Johnson, president of CCG.  "We are very fortunate to have Steve's breadth of experience and intimate knowledge of LHH and the Northshore to lead this hospital."

"CCG believes the best care is patient-centered and physician led.  Our plan is to build delivery systems throughout the country that integrate care across the full continuum of services from prevention to acute care, from surgery to rehabilitation and from diagnosis through disease management," said Harry R. Jacobson, MD, Chairman of the CCG Board.  "Steve Blades has been the moving force behind our development of an exceptional network of physicians along the Northshore and throughout southwestern Mississippi."

Blades has served as CCG's senior vice president for physician services since the company's founding and has been working full time at LHH since May of this year.  Prior to joining CCG, he was the executive vice president and COO of Cardiovascular Care Affiliates. He has an extensive background in healthcare operations, organizational governance and culture, compliance and national/state regulatory affairs. He has worked in healthcare administration for over 35 years, including more than a decade as part of the United States DHS, Health Care Financing Administration and the Office of Inspector General. Blades has served as the administrator of a large academic family medicine program in North Carolina and as chief executive of four large cardiology practices in Tennessee, Texas and Washington. He was a co-founder and past President of the Cardiology Leadership Alliance (CLA) and is currently President of the Cardiovascular Outpatient Center Alliance (COCA).

Steve Blades earned his degree in Government from Florida State University and an MPA from the University of Georgia.

About Cardiovascular Care Group:
Cardiovascular Care Group is a physician-led patient-centered company that partners with cardiovascular specialists and other physicians to design and build regional care delivery systems that integrate care across the continuum of cardiovascular care. Working closely with the existing healthcare network, CCG and its physician partners focus on coordinating the delivery of evidence-based cardiovascular care to achieve improved clinical outcomes, at lower costs and with improved quality of life for the patients they serve.

Contact:
Lynne Black 985-690-7504

SOURCE Cardiovascular Care Group