Three top Queen’s Medical Center heart surgeons, the only ones in the state who repair and replace heart valves without open heart surgery, are leaving the touted Queen’s Heart program.

Cardiologists Christian Spies, Chari Hart and Jared Oyama are moving to Straub Medical Center within the next few months, leaving the future of the Queen’s Heart program uncertain. In addition to the three doctors, Dr. Ramy Badawi recently left the Queen’s Heart Physician Practice, which will have about a dozen doctors in the program on call 24 hours a day for heart attack patients.

Queen’s has been at the forefront of minimally invasive heart procedures for patients too frail to endure open-heart surgery.

“We have an active cardiovascular department with over 20 cardiologists and will look at alternatives for coverage of our interventional needs. We plan to work with the cardiologists relocating from Queen’s to Straub to continue to support part of our structural heart program,” said Dr. Rob Hong, Queen’s chief of staff. “In terms of general cardiology, we have an active medical staff as well as the only fellowship teaching program in the state that will be able to continue to provide 24/7 coverage.”

In 2014 the hospital began offering the state’s only minimally invasive treatment for patients suffering from mitral regurgitation, a potentially debilitating and life-threatening disease in which a leaky valve causes a backward flow of blood in the heart. The condition is known to increase the risk of irregular heartbeats, stroke and heart failure leading to death. The procedure uses the MitraClip, an FDA-approved device that is inserted in the heart through a leg artery or vein with a single puncture in the groin.

The year before, Queen’s became the first in Hawaii to offer heart valve replacements via catheter through the groin for heart disease patients previously deemed inoperable. The cardiac procedure for aortic stenosis, a severe narrowing of a heart valve, made it possible for patients too ill to tolerate the standard valve replacement to receive treatment.

“We have really built a center of excellence, and we were confined to Queen’s. We will make our services available at both health systems, so it’s a good thing,” said Spies, who performs more than 200 procedures a year.

He wouldn’t say why the physicians have chosen to leave Queen’s, but said they have agreed to an unusual arrangement to be employed by Straub but maintain privileges at Queen’s so that access to care would not be compromised.

“Patient care will not be compromised. In fact, it’s going to be an extension of services at two hospitals,” he added. “What the business consequences are really are not majorly my concern. Of course, you need to survive financially. For me, my driver is patient care. I need to put patients first, and this is the right thing to do.”

Dr. Roy Chen, chief of Straub’s Department of Cardiology and medical director of Hawaii Pacific Health Heart Centers, said the hospital is “always looking for ways to expand our cardiac services with the latest technology.”

“We do regularly hire new specialists to meet community need, and look forward to welcoming three new heart specialists in May,” he said. “We will continue to build our own internal capacity and collaborate with Queen’s to ensure that Hawaii residents receive the highest-quality cardiac care available.”

In 2012, late actor and Honolulu resident Jim Nabors, best known for his 1960s television role as Gomer Pyle, was among the first patients in Hawaii to get a heart valve replacement without open-heart surgery at Queen’s.