PARKERSBURG - Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital is moving forward on its plans to be able to offer emergency angioplasty.

The West Virginia Healthcare Authority had deemed the hospital's application was complete and allowing for the process to move to the next step, said Greg Smith, Camden-Clark's marketing director. Smith said he received word from the authority Tuesday afternoon in an e-mail message.

Officials with the West Virginia Healthcare Authority did not immediately return phone messages left at their offices in Charleston Tuesday.

Camden-Clark submitted the application to the West Virginia Healthcare Authority last week for a certificate of need to perform emergency angioplasty, or Primary PCI. The procedure restores the flow of blood to the heart, thus stopping the heart attack and the further deterioration of the heart muscle.

Revised standards approved last year allow for emergency angioplasty without the need for an on-site open-heart surgical unit. Demonstration projects at state hospitals have shown the procedure can be done without open-heart backup and not increase mortality, hospital officials said.

Doctors with Camden-Clark have maintained time is critical in treating a patient undergoing a heart attack as immediate treatment prevents further harm to the heart.

Anyone has until Aug. 1 to comment and to file as an affected party in the proceedings, Smith said.

''(Camden-Clark's) application meets the standards,'' he said. ''With this being emergency angioplasty and needed to provide quality patient care, we hope it will go through quickly.

''This is a great opportunity to provide this service to patients in this area.''

If everything goes smoothly, hospital officials hope to be able to offer the service by the end of the year.

Camden-Clark sees more than 43,000 patients a year in its Emergency Services Department.

Officials with Camden-Clark have said they are not trying to start their own open-heart surgery program to compete with the one at St. Joseph's Hospital, but want the option to do emergency angioplasty if a patient is brought to them with signs of a heart attack where they can act immediately in the best interest of the patient rather than spending time arranging for and conducting a transfer to St. Joseph's Hospital.

A quicker reaction time can mean the difference between life and death as well as limit the amount of damage to the heart.

''It really is about saving lives,'' Smith said.

St. Joseph's is going to carefully review all the materials submitted to the West Virginia Healthcare Authority by Camden-Clark, said Jill Parsons, a vice president at St. Joseph's.

St. Joseph's open-heart program has been in operation since April 2004. Those five years of experience have been invaluable in allowing St. Joseph's to attain the level of skill and expertise it has, Parsons said.

St. Joseph's officials contend a second hospital providing emergency angioplasty would be duplication and isn't in the best interests of the community since the hospitals are only about five minutes apart, she said.

Primary PCI is rapidly becoming the standard of care for emergency rooms that see heart attack patients nationwide, Smith said.

''This is the standard of service in emergency rooms across the country,'' he said. ''You can go to any of the hospitals in Charleston and have emergency angioplasty done.

''It is time they got it here in the Mid-Ohio Valley.''