Health & Wellness

CARDIOTHORACIC SURGEON ED NAGEM RETURNS TO LAFAYETTE

by Leslie Turk

Respected surgeon’s arrangement with Lourdes/Heart Hospital comes on heels of similar deal between Drs. Victor Tedesco and Mohamad Allam with Lafayette General’s physicians group.

Dr. Edmund Nagem

Dr. Edmund Nagem Jr., a cardiothoracic surgeon who left Lafayette in 2008 for semi-retirement and has been temporarily filling in for other physicians out of state and in West Monroe, returned to the Hub City to resume a full-time practice in December.

Nagem signed a multi-year contract with Lourdes Physician Group to treat patients at Our Lady of Lourdes and its partner facility, Heart Hospital of Lafayette, which Nagem co-founded in 2004. Lourdes bought a majority interest in the specialty hospital in 2007.

Nagem, whose specialties are cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgeries, has opened an office in Province Office Park across from Lourdes and did his first case at Heart Hospital Dec. 17. The respected surgeon was reintroduced to Lourdes/ HHL employees the following day by President and CEO Bud Barrow:

As we look at the future development of our CV program on two campuses, we sought sound and proven leadership to help guide us in the direction of excellence. We found that commitment in a doctor who is known to be the driving force and a founder of the Heart Hospital of Lafayette. I am pleased to announce that Dr. Ed Nagem, cardiothoracic surgeon, has rejoined the HHL/Lourdes team and heartily embraced our joint vision for cardiovascular medicine. ...

Many of you have already visited with him and shared his excitement to re-engage in our mission. In the months ahead, Dr. Nagem will work in concert with another esteemed colleague and friend, Dr. Rick Dearman. ...

Lourdes officials tell The IND Nagem also is taking call with Dearman.

News of Nagem’s return comes on the heels of a Dec. 16 announcement by competitor Lafayette General Health that Drs. Victor Tedesco IV and Mohamad Allam, both local cardiovascular and thoracic surgeons who previously practiced with Dearman, had signed similar deals with Lafayette General’s physicians group, Lafayette General Medical Doctors, which has a partnership with CIS. “Drs. Allam and Tedesco will continue practicing at the hospitals where their patients seek care,” says Gus Fontenot, LGH’s communications specialist. The two surgeons, whose offices are also in Province Office Park, currently have hospital privileges at HH, OLOL and LGMC, he adds.

Though none of the surgeons’ deals appears to be exclusive arrangements with the respective hospitals, the contracts do make it appear as though the docs are unlikely to be working elsewhere with any regularity.