Kaweah Health and Stanford Medicine have terminated a partnership to bring more cardiothoracic surgeons to the Valley.

Visalia-based Kaweah Health is dissolving an 8-month-old partnership with Stanford Medicine that promised to bring more cardiac surgeons to the Central Valley.

In December 2023, Kaweah Health welcomed cardiac surgeon and Stanford Medicine faculty member Dr. Michael McLean to its ranks. McLean was meant to be the first of three Stanford Medicine surgeons to live and work in Visalia through a joint partnership between the two health care providers. 

In a message from Kaweah Health Chief Nursing Officer Keri Noeske, Kaweah Health and Stanford Medicine mutually agreed to terminate the contract for cardiothoracic physician services effective Aug. 10. The program had a hard time getting off the ground, Noeske said – an apparent victim of the region’s long standing challenge in bringing specialists here to practice.

“This was not an easy decision and comes after careful consideration and evaluation of the program’s progress and the inability to effectively recruit and retain cardiothoracic surgeons,” Noeske said.

Cardiothoracic surgeons operate on organs in the thorax, including the heart, lungs, esophagus and more. Effective Aug. 10, Noeske said Kaweah Health would begin the recruitment process for surgeons interested in working directly with Kaweah Health.

Noeske said the health system remains committed to maintaining a high-quality cardiothoracic program.

“The Kaweah Health cardiologists, cardiac anesthesiologists, and cardiothoracic team will continue to be actively involved in the interviewing and selection process of new surgeons,” Noeske said.

Noeske added that Kaweah Health would continue to provide cardiothoracic surgery care with Dr. Fred Mayer and temporary specialists the system has established over the last three years.

Kaweah launched its inaugural cardiac and thoracic surgery program in 1996 through a similar partnership with Starr-Wood Cardiac Group in Portland, Oregon. In four years, Kaweah was named one of the top 100 cardiac surgery programs in the country, according to a 2021 Kaweah news release.

Dr. Mayer was recruited as lead surgeon from the naval health care system in San Diego. Around 2011, Kaweah ended the relationship with Starr-Wood Cardiac Group, and Mayer departed as Kaweah created a new cardiac surgery group, Golden State Cardiac & Thoracic.

Kaweah ended its relationship with Golden State in 2021, and brought back Mayer to lead the program for a few years to rebuild and recruit, according to the news release.

The next phase of the program – the Stanford affiliation – was announced last December, with Dr. McLean making the rounds to explain the benefits to local patients, such as a more efficient referral system for patients needing the highest levels of care.