In 1887, Sparks became Arkansas' first hospital and with determination and a sense of pride, Sparks has chosen to lead rather than follow. Sparks Health System was established in 1999 and is a fully integrated healthcare delivery system and offers a full range of medical specialties and advanced diagnostic facilities. Sparks' service area covers 11 counties with more than 356,000 people.
The Cardiovascular Department at Sparks has taken the care of their patients' health seriously. It strives to provide the best quality of care and evidence-based practice for all its patients. In an effort to continually improve quality outcomes and provide the latest up-to-date evidence-based medicine, Sparks is an active participant in the following National Databases:
- Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS)
- American College of Cardiology (ACC)
- NCDR ICD Registry
- AHA Get With the Guidelines
- Translate-ACS
In 2010, Sparks performed 1,772 diagnostic cardiac catheterizations. Of those, 519 diagnostic cardiac catheterizations resulted in placement of an intra-coronary stent. Also, 238 received a Bare Metal Stent, 209 received a Drug-Eluting Stent and the remaining 72 underwent a primary PCI procedure only. In that same year, Sparks also performed 626 peripheral diagnostics including 23 peripheral interventions.