The Iowa Clinic recently received approval from the Iowa Department of Public Health to move forward with building the first outpatient cardiac catheterization lab in the state. Currently, the West Des Moines-based physician specialty group and other providers perform the procedures only on an inpatient basis in hospitals. The IDPH’s Health Facilities Council approved the Iowa Clinic’s certificate of need for the facility on Oct. 21. Cardiac catheterization is a medical procedure used in the diagnosis and treatment of common heart conditions such as heart disease. In Iowa, heart disease claims 167 out of 100,000 people each year; the state currently ranks 19th in the nation for heart disease deaths. According to the request to the Health Facilities Council, the facility will be located at the Iowa Clinic Surgery and Endoscopy Center in West Des Moines, with a project cost of $4.15 million. “By offering patients the opportunity to have cardiac procedures performed in an outpatient setting, we can safely and effectively deliver the same high-quality care at a significantly lower cost for our patients and employers,” the Iowa Clinic’s CEO, Ben Vallier said in a statement. The Iowa Clinic said development of the state-of-the-art cardiac care suite is planned within the next 24 months.