U.Va. Health launched its Heart and Vascular Institute in May in hopes of creating a heart and vascular clinical care structure across the U.Va. Health system to improve patient care and outcomes.
According to a written statement from Eric Swensen, U.Va. Health public information officer, the institute unites faculty from the School of Medicine, the University Medical Center, the vascular teams from U.Va. Health’s outpatient clinics and community hospitals as well as other partners from across Virginia to deliver a unified system-wide heart and vascular care model. The institute does not yet have a physical location, according to U.Va. Connect, but heart and vascular care will continue to be offered in a “host of locations across the Commonwealth.”
According to Swensen, the institute will replace the current Heart and Vascular Service Line — a group of all the cardiovascular resources, clinicians and services within the U.Va. Health System — which is currently based out of the University Medical Center. Swensen said that the replacement of the Heart and Vascular Service Line represents U.Va. Health’s shift towards a system-based way of delivering care — where cardiovascular service offerings are unified across the health system. U.Va. Connect further explained that service lines focus on “streamlining clinical workflows” for a speciality, while institutes integrate care more deeply within the system.
“The institute … [represents] a natural evolution of our system-wide care model as we look to grow our current heart and vascular offerings to serve more patients across Virginia and beyond,” Swensen wrote.
Swensen also shared the goals of the new institute, including improving patient access to care, creating more seamless care and increasing the efficiency of the current heart and vascular services at U.Va. Health.
Swensen added that the institute will allow collaboration between clinicians by unifying the management of the heart and vascular service offerings across the whole U.Va. Health System in the Commonwealth instead of the services being managed only at the University Medical Center in Charlottesville.
The new system-wide structure will establish joint committees connecting clinicians at the University Medical Center with those at U.Va. Health's community hospitals across the Commonwealth in Culpeper, Manassas and Haymarket, as well as its outpatient clinics in Northern Virginia and Culpeper, according to Swensen. He added that these streamlined connections amongst clinicians within the system can optimize conversations regarding patient care.
“The collaboration needed to manage system-wide programs will occur within the new operating model and meeting structure that is being established with the launch of the Heart and Vascular [Institute],” Swensen said. “We [will] have joint operating committees with our U.Va. Community Health colleagues … where we actively discuss items such as program development, specific patients and operational needs.”
John Bennett, chief service line and ambulatory operations officer for U.Va. Health, will have executive oversight of the institute, and in a statement to The Cavalier Daily, he said he will work alongside other administrative and physician leadership.
Other leaders of the institute include Laura Thielemann, operations leader of the institute, and a physician leader, who will be selected at a later date through a national search process. According to U.Va. Connect, the search is being launched as Dr. Michael Valentine, general cardiologist and professor of medicine at U.Va. Health, “transitions from this position.”
“I will work with the executive chair as well as our operations leader to determine how we best partner with all of our outstanding heart and vascular physicians to provide the very best care for all the patients we serve, " Bennett wrote.
Swensen said that the Heart and Vascular Institute at U.Va. Health is home to “internationally recognized programs” in fields such as cardiac surgery, structural heart disease, advanced heart failure, heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support. He said that the new unified structure of the heart and vascular offerings within U.Va. Health will help to continue its reputation of over 50 years of nationally recognized cardiovascular care, research and innovation.
Swensen explained that the move to the new system-wide care model will benefit patient care at U.Va. Health by expanding specialty cardiac, vascular and advanced cardiology services across the Commonwealth.
“We believe this new institute will be valuable for our patients, as the institute model supports many of our strategic goals, including delivering superior patient outcomes, creating destination programs, improving patient access and acting as [a unified system],” Swensen said.
Michael Racz is a staff writer on the news desk. He is a second-year student in the College majoring in Biology with plans to go to Medical School. Outside of The Cavalier Daily, Michael is a member of the Emergency Medicine Scribe Program and the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. He enjoys writing about health topics and student self-governance.
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