Here are eight programs, initiatives, procedures and studies by some of the innovative heart centers in the country:
- Twenty-six health systems and hospitals throughout the Midwest and the East joined the American Heart Association's heart failure and patient care initiative.
- Three Ascension hospitals were part of a global study that found a more effective way to treat ischemic strokes.
- Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford Medicine Children's Health completed a 10-year study to find ways to shorten wait times for pediatric heart transplants.
- Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's Heart Center successfully inserted a pacemaker into a premature baby.
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is opening a first-of-its-kind mental health center for families affected by congenital heart disease.
- Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare partnered with Story Health, a technology company, to provide specialty care for patients with heart failure.
- Puyallup, Wash.-based MultiCare's Pulse Heart Institute partnered with DispatchHealth to reduce congestive heart failure patient readmission to 6.8 percent.
- Chesapeake (Va.) Regional Medical Center was approved to launch an open-heart surgery program.