Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S, and the hospital and health system heart programs on this list are leading the fight against it.
Becker’s is proud to recognize the hospitals and health systems that are setting the standard for cardiovascular care, boasting exceptional clinical outcomes, life-saving technology and groundbreaking research.
Many of the institutions featured here also earn consistent top honors from U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, Healthgrades, and other respected ranking organizations. This list is not a ranking or rating, but rather a way to highlight the great things happening in heart care across the nation.
Note: Becker’s Healthcare developed this list based on nominations and editorial research. Organizations do not pay and cannot pay for inclusion on this list. This list is not exhaustive, nor is it an endorsement of the organizations mentioned. Organizations are presented in alphabetical order. We extend a special thank you to Rhoda Weiss for her contributions to this list.
Contact Anna Falvey at afalvey@beckershealthcare.com with questions or comments.
AdventHealth Orlando (Fla.). AdventHealth Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute is among the largest, most comprehensive programs of its kind in the nation and the largest provider of cardiovascular care in Florida. The institute includes more than 300 experts across 15 subspecialties, delivering care in inpatient, outpatient and community settings and averaging 275,000 patient visits annually. The team annually performs approximately 70,000 cardiovascular, electrophysiology and catheterization lab procedures, as well as more than 2,600 vascular surgeries. The institute provides community access to groundbreaking clinical trials, innovative programs and new treatment options. In collaboration with the AdventHealth Research Institute, it manages more than $2.2 million in heart, lung and vascular research and offers more than 40 clinical trials annually. AdventHealth Orlando also houses Central Florida’s only heart and lung transplant program. As part of its commitment to ensure all community members have access to high levels of care, AdventHealth also operates the Trina Hidalgo Heart Care Center, serving more than 3,800 uninsured or underinsured patients last year. AdventHealth Orlando is Florida’s highest-ranked hospital for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery according to the 2026-27 U.S. News & World Report list, and is No. 50 in the nation for the same category.
Advocate Christ Medical Center (Oak Lawn, Ill.) Advocate Christ Medical Center ranks No. 44 in the nation for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings. Its Advocate Heart Institute performs more than 1,200 heart surgeries and more than 5,000 cardiac procedures each year, more than any other hospital in Illinois, including the state’s highest number of open-heart surgeries. The institute’s ventricular assist device program is the busiest in Illinois and one of the five busiest in the country, offering both bridge-to-transplant therapy and destination therapy for patients who aren’t transplant candidates. Its physicians were the first team in the U.S. to implant a HeartMate II ventricular assist device for destination therapy, and its heart transplant program is one of the busiest in the Midwest. Advocate Christ also had the first team in Illinois to perform robotic mitral valve repair surgery. The institute’s services span adult congenital heart disease, cardio-oncology, electrophysiology, pulmonary hypertension and peripheral vascular disease, and its cardiac rehabilitation program is nationally certified by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. Its physicians also help write national heart care guidelines and publish in journals like The New England Journal of Medicine.
Allina Health (Minneapolis). Founded in 1981, Allina Health Minneapolis Heart Institute cares for more Minnesotans than any other cardiovascular program in the state, with more than 30 specialty programs and more than 45 rural and regional outreach locations across Minnesota and western Wisconsin. In 2025, the institute served more than 191,000 patients and performed 12,903 heart rhythm procedures, 12,240 percutaneous coronary and valve interventions, 2,116 open heart surgeries and 196 transplant, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and ventricular assist device cases. It is one of three heart transplant programs in Minnesota. Its Comprehensive Cardiovascular Care & Coordination Center, a 24/7 command center launched in January 2024, received more than 12,000 calls from March 2024 to January 2026 and has contributed to a 57% decrease in median time to accept direct admissions and a 25% increase in direct admissions. The institute implanted the first TriClip System in the U.S. to treat tricuspid regurgitation in April 2024 and the first OmniaSecure defibrillation lead in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest in January 2026. In partnership with the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, which invests more than $21 million in cardiovascular research and education each year, institute physicians contributed to 326 peer-reviewed publications in 2025 and are participating in more than 275 active research studies. Abbott Northwestern Hospital’s 620,000-square-foot, 10-story Richard M. Schulze Surgical and Critical Care Center, which includes new electrophysiology suites, cardiac catheterization labs and cardiac intensive care rooms, opened in late August 2026.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital (Little Rock, Ark.). Arkansas Children’s Hospital ranks No. 32 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings, and its Heart Institute is the only dedicated pediatric cardiac care program in Arkansas. The institute reports 100% survival after the Norwood procedure and a 100% one-year survival rate after heart transplant, and it has performed more than 238 neonatal cardiac operations over the past four years. Its team performs more than 600 cardiac catheterization procedures a year, spanning diagnostic, interventional and electrophysiology procedures. The Heart Institute is staffed around the clock by in-house cardiac intensivists, and Arkansas Children’s Hospital is verified as a level 1 children’s surgery center by the American College of Surgeons. Its 3D Heart Model Printing Center produces replicas of patients’ hearts that surgeons can study before an operation, which often shortens time in surgery and recovery. Specialty clinics cover fetal cardiology, electrophysiology, pacemakers, heart failure and cardiomyopathy, transplantation and cardiac neurodevelopment, and an adult congenital heart disease program continues care into adulthood.
Atlantic Health (Morristown, N.J.). Atlantic Health Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute at Morristown Medical Center is home to New Jersey’s largest cardiac surgery program and ranks No. 41 nationally for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report‘s 2026-27 rankings. The institute has performed more than 6,000 transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedures, the most in New Jersey, along with more than 10,000 catheterizations and angioplasties. Its team performs more than 1,000 valve procedures and more than 2,000 cardiac rhythm management procedures annually, and it has earned Society of Thoracic Surgeons 3-star ratings for coronary artery bypass graft surgery, aortic valve replacement, and mitral valve repair and replacement. Healthgrades ranked Morristown Medical Center as one of “America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery” for 2026. In addition, CMS data showed the hospital had the lowest heart failure readmission ratio in New Jersey and the 10th-lowest nationally from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2023. The institute operates the 28-bed Mac Mahon Family Foundation Cardiac Access Unit and has 65 active cardiac research studies. A three-year, $30 million project called “Gagnon 2.0” is underway to add cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology labs, cardiac access beds and cardiovascular testing space.
Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital (Charlotte, N.C.). Atrium Health Levine Children’s Congenital Heart Center is a nationally recognized leader in pediatric heart care, providing expert, compassionate treatment for children of all ages with congenital and acquired heart conditions. Home to Charlotte’s only pediatric heart surgery program and pediatric cardiovascular intensive care unit, the center has decades of experience caring for even the most complex cases. Ranked every year since 2014 by U.S. News & World Report as one of the nation’s best children’s hospitals for cardiology and heart surgery, Levine Children’s is currently ranked as the No. 22 pediatric program in the category nationally. The program offers a comprehensive range of services, including fetal heart care, neonatal and pediatric heart surgery, heart transplantation, electrophysiology, advanced cardiac imaging and adult congenital heart disease care. Physicians use the most advanced technologies available, such as 3D printing and minimally invasive surgical techniques, to improve outcomes and reduce recovery time. Care is delivered through a multidisciplinary approach that includes a dedicated pediatric cardiac ICU and specialized neurodevelopmental, cardio-oncology and preventive cardiology programs. Extensive family-centered support services further ensure that every child and family receives holistic care from diagnosis through long-term follow-up.
Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center (Milwaukee). Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center ranks No. 38 in the nation for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings, the only Wisconsin hospital in the top 50 for the specialty. Its cardiac surgery program holds Society of Thoracic Surgeons 3-star ratings in all five procedure categories: coronary artery bypass grafting, aortic valve replacement, mitral valve repair and replacement, aortic valve replacement with coronary artery bypass grafting, and mitral valve repair or replacement with coronary artery bypass grafting. Aurora St. Luke’s performed Wisconsin’s first heart transplant in 1968, reached its 1,000th in 2020, and now performs 25 to 30 a year. Since 1982, it has completed more heart transplants than any other health system in the state. It has also implanted nearly 900 ventricular assist devices since 1986 and has been a clinical trial site for most artificial heart pumps tested over the past 30 years. The hospital runs Wisconsin’s largest transcatheter aortic valve replacement program and is the only health system in the state offering the pBranch device for aneurysms near the kidney arteries. Its electrophysiology team was the first in Wisconsin to offer hybrid ablation for atrial fibrillation, and the system performed the first atrial defibrillator implant in the U.S. and the nation’s first epicardial catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation. Aurora St. Luke’s trains more than 30 cardiology fellows each year, and Aurora’s cardiovascular team includes more than 100 heart, vascular, thoracic and electrophysiology specialists across Wisconsin.
Banner Health (Phoenix). The heart program at Banner–University Medicine Heart Institute in Phoenix is at the forefront of global innovation and research. In April 2026, the program celebrated the completion of more than 50 total artificial heart implantation procedures, more than any center worldwide since 2022. It is among the world’s first three hospitals to successfully implant BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart in a human, advancing the use of cutting-edge technology to keep patients with advanced heart failure alive until donor hearts become available. It is also a leading site in a national multi-center trial of the latest iteration of BiVACOR. Banner is pioneering cardioneuroablation, a groundbreaking therapy used to treat a severe form of arrhythmia, with more procedures performed at Banner than any site in the nation. Research studies include national, multi-center trials on advanced methods to treat ventricular tachycardia and atrial fibrillation. A leader in electrophysiology robotics, it was the first U.S. health system to install a stereotaxis robotic electrophysiology system, and its physicians teach robotic master classes. It was the region’s first to unveil the groundbreaking technology of pulse field ablation, Farapulse, to treat atrial fibrillation. Banner also engages in studies to establish safer, more effective treatment standards for patients.
BayCare Health System (Clearwater, Fla.). BayCare Health System’s Heart and Vascular Institute has 307 specialists, and its cardiovascular surgery programs have earned Society of Thoracic Surgeons 3-star ratings, the highest possible designation, across multiple adult cardiac surgery categories for the past seven years. Three of the system’s structural heart and valve programs hold transcatheter valve certification from the American College of Cardiology, and its left ventricular assist device program is DNV-certified. Physicians at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater completed the world’s first transcatheter aortic valve-in-valve replacement as part of the “RESTORE” study, a procedure designed for patients whose original transcatheter valve has degenerated. BayCare is one of 143 international sites in the “Left Atrial Appendage Exclusion for Prophylactic Stroke Reduction” trial and among the top two enrollers worldwide with more than 470 patients, and it is the leading enroller in the “BoxX-NoAF” trial with 87 patients. Heart and vascular research funding totaled about $2.94 million in fiscal 2025. The Tampa Bay Adult Congenital Heart Center at Tampa, Fla.-based St. Joseph’s Hospital is accredited by the Adult Congenital Heart Association. In October 2026, St. Joseph’s Hospital became the first site to implant a new investigational monitoring device designed to help patients track heart failure. In the summer of 2026, BayCare’s Morton Plant Hospital became the first in Florida to offer the FDA-approved Trilogy Transcatheter Heart Valve System for severe aortic regurgitation.
Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas). Baylor Scott & White The Heart Hospital–Plano (Texas) ranks No. 30 in the nation for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings. It also holds Society of Thoracic Surgeons 3-star ratings in all six cardiac surgery categories, placing it in the top 1% nationally. The Heart Hospital network, part of Baylor Scott & White Health, includes six hospitals and 80 outpatient clinics in North Texas and performs more than 35,000 procedures a year. From April 2024 to March 2025, its teams performed more than 4,600 percutaneous coronary interventions with a 1% mortality rate, compared with 1.9% nationally, along with 4,189 ablations. Surgeons at the Plano and Denton (Texas) hospitals performed 2,780 isolated coronary artery bypass procedures, with a 0.66% mortality rate at Plano against a predicted rate of 2.05%, and the network completed 724 transcatheter aortic valve replacements in fiscal year 2025 with 0.7% mortality, compared with 1% nationally. Its research teams took part in more than 170 industry trials and more than 50 academic studies and produced more than 480 publications in the span of a single year. Healthgrades ranks the Plano hospital No. 1 in Texas for cardiac surgery and cardiac care, and Fortune and Premier named it one of the “50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals” and No. 1 among teaching hospitals with cardiovascular residency programs.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston). Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center delivers heart and vascular care through its CardioVascular Institute. The institute’s division of cardiovascular medicine dates to the early 1900s, and the medical center is credited with developing the first pacemaker used in humans at Beth Israel Hospital in 1952. The division established the Boston area’s first dedicated atrial fibrillation clinic and research institute, and is a national leader in transcatheter aortic and mitral valve replacement therapies. Its cardiac direct access unit gives referred patients immediate access to cardiology care without waiting in the emergency department. Specialty programs include clinics for amyloidosis, HIV and heart care, infectious endocarditis, sarcoidosis, sports cardiology and women’s cardiovascular health, as well as Latinx and Russian cardiovascular clinics. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital, consistently ranks among the top four independent hospitals nationwide in National Institutes of Health research funding, and its cardiometabolic researchers have identified biomarkers that flag people likely to develop diabetes and heart disease more than a decade before onset. The division of vascular and endovascular surgery is also among the most active vascular clinical trial sites in the world. The program ranks No. 35 in the nation for cardiology in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings.
Boston Children’s Hospital. Boston Children’s Hospital ranks No. 8 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings, and its Benderson Family Heart Center is the largest pediatric heart program in the U.S. The center has more than 500 experts, including 12 cardiac surgeons and more than 100 cardiologists, and offers nearly 30 subspecialty programs covering all types of congenital heart disease. It runs the nation’s largest pediatric catheterization program, performing more than 1,500 procedures a year, and often uses catheter-based techniques in place of open-heart surgery, including pulmonary valve replacement and patent ductus arteriosus closure in premature babies. Boston Children’s performed the first successful fetal cardiac intervention and now runs the world’s largest and most experienced fetal cardiac intervention program, and its heart failure program is the largest of its kind in the U.S. The center reports surgical survival rates approaching 99% despite treating some of the most complex congenital heart conditions, and its team developed the “Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery,” now widely used to assess quality and risk in the field. Backed by funding from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association, it runs the nation’s largest clinical and basic research program focused on pediatric heart disease, with innovations including 3D printing of the heart and mitochondrial transplantation to support failing hearts. In September 2026, Boston Children’s researchers reported that endothelial cells are profoundly altered in endocardial fibroelastosis, a source of cardiac scarring in hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and identified disease pathways that could lead to new therapies.
Boston Medical Center Health System. Boston Medical Center Health System delivers cardiovascular care across Boston Medical Center, BMC Brighton (Mass.) and BMC South in Brockton, Mass., boasting about 80 heart specialists and $16.75 million in research funding for its heart programs. BMC’s Cardiovascular Center, part of New England’s largest essential hospital, treats about 30,000 patients each year, and its cardiac surgery program has more than 70 years of history. The center’s specialists focus on conditions that disproportionately affect diverse patient populations, including cardiac amyloidosis, cardiac sarcoidosis and Chagas heart disease. BMC South’s cardiac catheterization lab and electrophysiology clinic perform more than 1,000 procedures annually and the hospital offers 24/7 emergency primary angioplasty, while BMC Brighton recently added onsite cardiac MRI services. In 2025, U.S. News & World Report recognized BMC as a top 50 hospital for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery, and Healthgrades ranked it No. 1 in Massachusetts for cardiology that same year. BMC also earned a CMS 5-star performance rating for heart attack readmissions in 2024, and 90.5% of its cardiovascular medicine patients would recommend their providers, according to Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems data.
Cedars-Sinai (Los Angeles). Cedars-Sinai’s Smidt Heart Institute is the largest cardiothoracic transplant center in California and has completed more than 700 heart and dual heart-lung transplants over the past six years. Its cardiologists, cardiac surgeons and care teams cover specialties including advanced heart disease, cardiac electrophysiology, cardiogenetics, congenital heart disease, heart valve disease and interventional cardiology. Cedars-Sinai’s reported survival and readmission rates for Medicare patients with heart-related conditions are in line with or better than national averages. In September 2026, Cedars-Sinai investigators published a laboratory study in JCI Insight showing that “TY1,” an experimental drug developed at the health system, reversed the effects of systemic sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that scars the skin, lungs, heart and other organs. The experimental drug reduced inflammation and DNA damage in immune cells from patients with the disease, and in mice it improved heart function and reduced organ scarring, building on earlier experiments in which it reduced tissue damage after heart attacks. In October 2026, preclinical research led by Cedars-Sinai investigators showed that small doses of weight-loss drugs improve heart performance and guard against heart failure. Cedars-Sinai ranks No. 4 in the nation for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Hospitals” rankings.
Children’s Health (Dallas). The Heart Center at Children’s Health performed 26 pediatric heart transplants in 2025, the highest volume in the country for the third consecutive year, following 36 in 2023, and 33 in 2024. The program performs more than 600 surgeries and an average of 857 cardiac catheterization cases annually, and it accounts for 10% of infant heart transplants nationwide. In 2025, its operative mortality rate was 1.27 per 100 index cases, within the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ top 10th percentile, and mortality for the highest-complexity cases fell 50% from 2024 to 4.17 per 100 index cases. Children’s Health is the only center in the world using a hybrid cardiac catheterization-MRI suite to perform complex diagnostic catheterizations, reducing patients’ radiation exposure. Its complex biventricular repair program has treated more than 60 children born with single-ventricle defects with a 0% procedural mortality rate. The center offers four types of ventricular assist devices and runs one of the 10 largest pediatric pulmonary hypertension programs in the country, and the only one in North Texas. Other recent quality gains include a 38% reduction in cardiac ICU central line-associated bloodstream infections and a 39% decrease in surgical site infections to 0.75 per 100 procedures.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta ranks No. 7 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings and has Georgia’s only nationally ranked program in the specialty. Its Heart Center is the largest pediatric cardiology program in the Southeast, with more than 60 pediatric cardiologists and more than 58,000 outpatient visits a year. It ranks among the top two programs nationally for pediatric heart surgery volume and the top five for cardiac ICU and cardiac acute care unit volumes. In 2025, its cardiac catheterization team performed 1,162 procedures, including balloon valvuloplasty, stenting, septal defect closures and transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement. From January 2022 to December 2025, survival after the Norwood procedure was 95.06%, compared with a Society of Thoracic Surgeons benchmark of 87.74%, and survival after the arterial switch operation was 100%, compared with 97.92%. The center’s surgical site infection rate after cardiac procedures fell from 1.09% in 2024 to 0% in 2025, while the share of patients likely to recommend the center rose from 92.3% to 94.9%. Children’s is also one of nine centers in the Pediatric Heart Network, and in October 2026 the American Medical Association gave it “Gold” recognition as a “Joy in Medicine” organization.
Children’s Hospital Colorado (Aurora). The Heart Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado is the largest pediatric heart program in the Rocky Mountain region, with more than 100 pediatric cardiac providers. In 2025, the institute performed more than 750 cardiac surgeries and recorded more than 25,000 clinic visits, supported by more than 20 outreach locations across four states. From the start of July 2021 to the end of June 2025, its overall cardiac surgery survival rate was 98.2%, and survival for the most complex surgeries was 91.2%, 6.6% above the national average in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons database. It is the only pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation program in the surrounding states, has performed more than 550 heart transplants since its inception, and is one of 15 “Platinum Level” centers of excellence recognized by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization. The institute is one of nine clinical research centers in the Pediatric Heart Network and has more than 70 active studies, and its funding includes a $13 million grant to study biological mechanisms of rare congenital heart defects. It is also one of the few U.S. centers using fetal 4D flow imaging for earlier detection of congenital heart conditions. The institute’s advocacy has also supported expedited FDA approval of Forzinity for patients with Barth syndrome and statewide automated external defibrillator guidelines signed into Colorado law. Children’s Hospital Colorado ranks No. 2 nationally for pediatric heart care and surgery in U.S. News & World Report for 2026-27.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The Heart Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles houses the largest congenital heart program on the West Coast, with 58 specialists and $5.2 million in research funding in fiscal 2025. Its cardiothoracic surgery program performs more than 700 cardiac surgeries each year, and about 30% of those patients are neonates, with more than 50% of neonatal heart surgeries being high-complexity cases. CHLA’s postoperative length of stay is shorter than the national median in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons database for procedures ranging from the most common to the most complex, and its cardiothoracic ICU is the third-largest program in the country. The cardiology program records more than 14,500 outpatient visits per year across 16 specialties. A pivotal multicenter trial led by CHLA found that the Minima stent, designed for infants and young children and expandable to adult size, safely and effectively treated obstructed blood vessels without surgery. The hospital opened a cardiac imaging suite with a dedicated 1.5 Tesla cardiac MRI in February 2025 and is one of a few U.S. centers offering myocardial perfusion imaging by MRI for children. CHLA also recently achieved its first home discharge of an adolescent with Fontan circulation supported by a fully implantable ventricular assist device, and Heart Institute physicians and researchers are involved in more than 100 research endeavors.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has one of the largest pediatric cardiac centers in North America. The center’s team of more than 1,000 offers advanced diagnostics and treatments for complex heart conditions. The center’s innovative offerings include a fetal heart disease program, as well as programs that: identify molecular therapeutic targets to significantly improve clinical care and disease management for heart failure patients; provide diagnostics, surgical intervention, transcatheter procedures and advanced imaging for valve disease patients; treat lymphatic leaks and flow disorders; use ventricular assist devices for rehabilitation of heart failure patients to improve transplant outcomes or avoid transplants altogether; and more. The system’s cardiac center serves among the highest volume of patients with rare and high-risk conditions, performing more of the most complicated procedures than any U.S. pediatric hospital. Each year, its team performs more than 100,000 diagnostic tests, 960 cardiac surgeries inclusive of over 570 open-heart surgeries, and 1,600 cardiac catheterizations. The center’s state-of-the-art facilities include a cardiac operative and imaging complex with six operating and hybrid suites exclusively for cardiac care, as well as four cardiac inpatient units with 71 beds exclusively for cardiac patients. The center is expanding outpatient cardiology services, including fetal heart imaging, to improve access for patients.
Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital (Houston). Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital’s Children’s Heart Institute, run in collaboration with pediatric subspecialists at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, cares for newborns, children and adolescents. The hospital also co-manages adult congenital heart patients with Memorial Hermann’s Larry D. Johnson Heart & Vascular Institute. The institute’s 24/7 cardiac catheterization lab performs more than 400 procedures a year, and its pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation program, a high-volume program in Texas, supports about 30 children annually. Its dedicated cardiac ICU is part of the hospital’s 30-bed pediatric ICU, and critically ill newborns also have access to a 118-bed level 4 neonatal ICU. Through a partnership with The Fetal Center at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, a national referral center for fetal diagnosis and intervention, the institute offers prenatal testing and fetal interventions for babies with congenital heart defects. Specialized programs include complex neonatal heart care, biventricular repair and conversion, transcatheter pulmonary valve therapy and pediatric heart transplantation. The hospital is rated No. 12 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery per U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Children’s Hospitals” list.
Children’s Mercy Kansas City (Mo.). According to U.S. News & World Report, Children’s Mercy Kansas City is No. 26 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery for 2026-27. Its Ward Family Heart Center has 35 pediatric cardiologists and heart surgeons, and runs outreach clinics across a 150-county service area that covers all of Kansas as well as western and southern Missouri. The center’s cardiac high acuity monitoring program pairs program-specific technology with a dedicated team to monitor babies with single-ventricle heart disease at home between their first and second surgeries. Its congenital heart surgeons specialize in reconstructive valve surgery for children and adults, and are developing alternative valve therapies, including human valve transplants. The advanced cardiac therapies and transplantation program provides advanced heart failure care and pediatric heart transplantation, and the center partners with Saint Luke’s Hospital and The University of Kansas Medical Center, both based in Kansas City, to move congenital heart patients into adult care. Its heart center wellbeing program combines the “Thrive” family support program with cardiac neurodevelopmental care to build emotional, cognitive and mental health support into cardiac treatment. Researchers study pharmacogenomics, imaging, tissue engineering and outcomes, and are working with the hospital’s Genomic Medicine Center to identify genetic causes of congenital heart disease.
Children’s Minnesota (Minneapolis). Children’s Minnesota’s cardiovascular program treats more pediatric cardiovascular patients than any other program in the upper Midwest, from fetal detection through young-adult care. Its pediatric heart surgery program, the largest in the upper Midwest, performs more than 400 heart surgeries a year on average, and the program operates the region’s only dedicated pediatric electrophysiology lab. The Edward J. Phillips Cardiovascular Care Center at the Minneapolis hospital consolidates pediatric cardiovascular services on one floor, including a cardiac hybrid operating room, and the fetal cardiology program can diagnose heart defects as early as 14 weeks’ gestation. Plus, a single ventricle home monitoring program allows infants to be discharged after their first surgery with equipment the care team monitors in real time. The Mayo Clinic-Children’s Minnesota Cardiovascular Collaborative ranked No. 27 in pediatric cardiology and heart surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Children’s Hospitals” list, and the cardiovascular ICU has also earned a silver-level “Beacon Award” from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. In 2026, “Project ADAM Minnesota,” run by Children’s Minnesota and The Children’s Heart Clinic, partnered with the Minnesota Department of Education to help schools meet a state law requiring districts and charter schools to have cardiac emergency response plans beginning in the 2026-27 school year. The cardiovascular research program received about $650,600 in 2025, and its investigators have published more than 30 scientific papers in 2026.
Children’s National Hospital (Washington, D.C.). Children’s National Hospital ranks No. 28 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 ranking of “Best Children’s Hospitals.” Its cardiac surgeons perform more than 600 procedures a year, supported by one of the few U.S. teams of anesthesiologists subspecialty trained and certified in pediatric cardiac anesthesia, and its echocardiography lab performs more than 18,000 studies a year. Care extends from prenatal diagnosis through adulthood, including through the “Washington Adult Congenital Heart Program,” which is accredited by the Adult Congenital Heart Association. The cardiac neurodevelopmental outcome program, the only one of its kind in the Washington, D.C., area, tracks cognitive health from infancy through young adulthood. The hospital’s Heart Research Institute studies how individual children’s hearts respond to medications and cardiopulmonary bypass, and how plastics in medical supplies and blood banking practices affect heart function and recovery after surgery. Institute investigators are also developing tiny pacemakers and other less-invasive devices for infants, using AI to monitor patients during surgery and in the cardiac ICU, and applying 3D, 4D and 5D flow imaging to guide surgical planning. The Children’s National Cardiac Outcomes Registry tracks decades of cardiac surgery outcomes to inform surgical practice, and a new cardiac rehabilitation program, “Qualirehab,” pairs fitness training with patient education and psychosocial care.
Cincinnati Children’s. Cincinnati Children’s Heart Institute is one of the largest and most highly regarded pediatric cardiology programs, consistently achieving highly superior outcomes for even the most complex heart conditions. The heart institute’s bench-to-bedside model rapidly translates groundbreaking research into clinical care, allowing patients to benefit from innovations earlier than would be possible at most centers. In fiscal year 2026 alone, the program supported more than 27,000 outpatient visits, performed over 600 cardiothoracic surgeries including heart and heart-lung transplants, and produced more than 300 peer-reviewed research publications. Specialized programs such as Fontan care, cardio-oncology, coronary artery disease, cardiac rehabilitation and advanced transplant services provide highly tailored, condition-specific expertise. The institute is also a leader in digital and surgical innovation, using tools like virtual surgical planning, AI and real-time outcome tracking to improve safety. Through more than 25 regional clinic locations, a mobile care heart clinic and expanded telehealth, Cincinnati Children’s extends its high-quality heart care closer to home for families throughout a wide footprint. In addition, the joint pediatric and congenital heart program, a collaboration between Cincinnati Children’s and Lexington, Ky.-based UK HealthCare’s Golisano Children’s at UK, is ranked among the top 15 pediatric cardiology and heart surgery programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 2026–27.
Cleveland Clinic. Cleveland Clinic, ranking at No. 8 in the nation for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery per U.S. News & World Report for 2026-27, manages more than 900,000 cardiovascular patient visits each year via its Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute. The institute’s Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine has about 180 cardiologists working in sections that include electrophysiology and pacing, imaging, heart failure and transplantation, interventional cardiology, preventive cardiology and vascular medicine. In 2025, Cleveland Clinic performed 91 heart transplants, including two pediatric cases, and 82 left ventricular assist device implantations. Its estimated one-year survival with a functioning graft after heart transplant is 97.6%, compared with a U.S. benchmark of 92.2%, and one-year survival after primary left ventricular assist device implantation is 93.2%, compared with 85.2% in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Intermacs registry. The electrophysiology lab performed 7,299 procedures in 2025, its highest annual total, and completed 6,967 atrial fibrillation ablations from 2021 to 2025 with a major complication rate of 1.44%, compared with a published benchmark of 2.5%. Over the same five years, the lab performed 840 lead extractions with a 93.9% clinical success rate and 0.12% in-hospital mortality, compared with a 1.2% benchmark. Cleveland Clinic’s heart surgeons hold top Society of Thoracic Surgeons ratings in every adult heart surgery category, and its specialized centers include the Women’s Cardiovascular Center and the Sports Cardiology Center.
Corewell Health (Grand Rapids, Mich.). Corewell Health delivers comprehensive cardiovascular care across Michigan, combining advanced diagnostics, minimally invasive therapies and high-acuity surgical expertise to address the full spectrum of heart and vascular disease. Corewell Health offers advanced imaging, structural heart and valve interventions, electrophysiology, vascular surgery and preventive cardiology services across a broad regional footprint, offering not only pediatric and adult cardiovascular services, but also statewide transplant and ventricular assist device programs. The system’s heart transplant program consistently ranks among the nation’s top performers and has the best outcomes in the state for waitlist survival rate, time to transplant and one-year heart survival based on outcomes reported to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, reflecting strength in advanced heart failure and transplantation care. For 2026-2027, U.S. News & World Report ranked Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital as tired for No. 50 nationally and No. 2 in Michigan for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery. It also ranked Corewell Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital as No. 49 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery. Additionally, Corewell Health’s Fred and Lena Meijer Heart Center is the only American College of Cardiology-designated “HeartCARE Center” in the state. Statewide, multidisciplinary teams emphasize personalized treatment planning and leverage catheter-based and minimally invasive approaches whenever possible to reduce recovery time and complications.
Dartmouth Health (Lebanon, N.H.). Dartmouth Health’s Heart and Vascular Center is New Hampshire’s only academic cardiovascular program. Serving a predominantly rural population, it brings procedures and subspecialty care to a region where patients previously had to travel out of state to receive. Its Aorta Center is a national leader in branched and fenestrated endovascular repair of complex thoracoabdominal and juxtarenal aneurysms. The pulmonary embolism program is a top enrolling site in the “HI-PEITHO” trial where Dartmouth Health study investigators led in writing current national guidelines on pulmonary embolism management. The cardiac surgery team performed New England’s first robotic-assisted aortic valve replacement and first totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass, and surgeons routinely perform robotic mitral valve repair and replacement. The center provides advanced surgical, interventional and minimally invasive therapies, many available through clinical trials, including cell and gene therapies for those with unreconstructable vascular disease. Center faculty hold national leadership roles across the specialty. The center’s vascular surgery fellowship was ranked first nationally by Doximity in 2026, and U.S. News & World Report rated Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center high performing for 2026–27 in aortic valve surgery, heart bypass surgery, arrhythmia care, heart attack, pacemaker implantation and heart failure. To meet regional demand, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center added 16 net new beds to its heart and vascular unit last year, bringing total cardiac capacity to 82 beds.
Dell Children’s Medical Center (Austin, Texas). Dell Children’s Medical Center ranks No. 9 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings, marking its second consecutive year in the top 10. Its Texas Center for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease is the only comprehensive children’s heart center in Central Texas. The center is a collaboration between Dell Children’s Medical Center at Ascension Seton and UT Health Austin, the clinical practice of Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin. It cares for patients from before birth through adulthood, including expecting mothers whose babies have congenital heart disease and adults with congenital heart disease. Treatment options include cardiac catheterization, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, electrophysiology, heart surgery and heart transplantation, and in 2019 the team implanted the first mechanical heart device in a pediatric patient in Central Texas. Specialty programs include a cardiac fetal program, a cardiac neurodevelopmental follow-up clinic, cardio-oncology, cardiovascular genetics, a coronary anomalies program, and a heart failure, ventricular assist device and transplant program. In June 2026, Dell Children’s partnered with the Championship Hearts Foundation to offer free 12-lead electrocardiogram and echocardiograms to teens ages 12 to 18 to screen for hidden conditions such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). Hackensack Meridian Health delivers cardiovascular care across 18 hospitals and more than 500 patient care locations in New Jersey, with more than 500 affiliated cardiologists and cardiac specialists. Hackensack (N.J.) University Medical Center and Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, N.J. serve as the network’s hubs for heart failure and cardiogenic shock care. Seven system hospitals have earned the American College of Cardiology’s “HeartCARE Center National Distinction of Excellence,” the most of any New Jersey health system, and Jersey Shore University Medical Center is one of seven U.S. cardiac programs to hold every American College of Cardiology accreditation. Both Hackensack University Medical Center and Jersey Shore University Medical Center earned 3-star Society of Thoracic Surgeons ratings for isolated coronary artery bypass grafting and multiprocedural surgery, along with the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization’s “Gold Level Center of Excellence” award. Hackensack University Medical Center, which is nationally ranked at No. 45 in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery, runs a robotic cardiac surgery program that performs mitral valve repair, coronary artery bypass grafting, atrial septal defect repair, arrhythmia surgery and cardiac tumor removal. Healthgrades named Jersey Shore University Medical Center as one of “America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery” from 2024 to 2026. The system’s cardiovascular experts have contributed to more than 1,000 publications since 2019, and the system’s cardiovascular value analysis team saved more than $5.1 million in 2025 and more than $5.27 million so far in 2026 through device reprocessing, bulk purchasing and rebates.
Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare. Hartford HealthCare’s Heart & Vascular Institute has more than 55 locations and nearly 400 cardiovascular physicians and advanced practitioners across eight hospitals, and it performs more advanced cardiac procedures than any other program in Connecticut. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons has awarded the institute a perfect 18-out-of-18 star rating across all cardiothoracic surgery categories. Hartford Hospital received the “Mitral Valve Repair Reference Center Award” from the Mitral Foundation and the American Heart Association for five consecutive years. The institute holds comprehensive cardiac center certification from The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association, the first in New England to do so, and its comprehensive aortic center performs more complex aortic procedures than any other center in the state. In 2026, it became the first program in Connecticut to perform an electrophysiology procedure using the “Affera Sphere 9” mapping and ablation catheter, and Hartford Hospital is the only electrophysiology program in the state to perform stereotactic radioablation for ventricular tachycardia. The institute supports more than 60 actively enrolling cardiovascular clinical trials, and Hartford Hospital is one of 11 hospitals in the “RADIATE VT” study. Its LDL Apheresis Center is one of 60 in the U.S. and the only one in Connecticut to offer the therapy, and U.S. News & World Report named Hartford HealthCare No. 1 in the state for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery for 2026-27.
Houston Methodist. Houston Methodist Hospital is ranked No. 10 in the nation and best in Texas for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery by U.S. News & World Report, which also named it an “Honor Roll” hospital. Its DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center was named for a pioneer in cardiovascular surgery who invented the Dacron graft and performed the first successful removal of a blockage in the carotid artery and the first aortocoronary artery bypass. The physician also performed the first multi-organ transplant of a heart, one lung and both kidneys from one donor to four recipients. Today, the center treats the full range of heart and vascular conditions, including adult congenital heart disease, arrhythmia, coronary artery disease, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease and valve disease, across multiple locations in the Greater Houston area. Its faculty lead 139 active clinical trials across subspecialties including preventive cardiology, cardiovascular imaging and electrophysiology, and published 337 peer-reviewed papers in 2025. Laboratory research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association and other agencies, in areas ranging from applied platelet physiology to a new alcohol-infusion ablation technique for atrial fibrillation. The department trains 40 cardiology fellows across six clinical fellowships and runs EnMed, a joint teaching program with Texas A&M’s College of Engineering Medicine.
Inova (Falls Church, Va.). Inova Schar Heart and Vascular has 221 dedicated cardiac beds and more than 270 board-certified physicians in cardiovascular or advanced lung disease specialties, delivering care across five hospitals and more than 65 Inova-owned outpatient practices in Northern Virginia. The program reports a 90% survival rate for type A aortic dissection, compared with 50% to 60% nationally, and a 78% survival rate for cardiogenic shock, compared with 50% nationally. Inova performed 37 heart transplants and 59 lung transplants, and it has treated 1,147 patients with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation since launching its program in 2016. It is the second-busiest U.S. site for MitraClip mitral valve repair and was the first health system in the Washington, D.C., region to perform transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement. Inova was also the first health system in the world to implement GE HealthCare’s SIGNA Sprint Elite MRI system, which is designed to advance imaging in specialties including cardiology. In 2025, Inova had 156 active clinical trials and studies, and its physicians published 101 peer-reviewed articles as primary authors. Inova was named Press Ganey’s 2025 “Healthcare System of the Year,” and its Fairfax Hospital ranked No. 2 in the Washington, D.C., area and Virginia in U.S. News & World Report‘s 2026-27 rankings for cardiology.
Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital (Salt Lake City). Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital ranks No. 11 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings. Its Intermountain Children’s Health Heart Center has more than 40 physicians and 300 staff members, including nurse practitioners, perfusionists, genetic counselors and child life specialists. The center runs one of the largest pediatric catheterization programs in the Mountain West and uses 50% less radiation in its cath lab than the national average. A 31-patient cardiac intensive care unit and cardiac care unit sit next to the cardiac operating rooms, supporting patients from surgery through intensive and step-down care. The center is one of two U.S. institutions taking part in all three major National Institutes of Health and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute research networks, and it is one of nine core sites in the Pediatric Heart Network, one of four Cardiac Development Consortium sites and one of five participants in the Pediatric Cardiac Genomes Consortium. Specialized programs include adult congenital heart disease, cardiomyopathy, aortopathy and pediatric electrophysiology. In September 2026, Intermountain Primary Children’s and Salt Lake City-based University of Utah Health expanded their pediatric pulmonary hypertension and cardiology services.
Jefferson Health (Philadelphia). Jefferson Health launched the Bruce & Robbi Toll Heart and Vascular Institute in 2024 with a gift from the Bruce and Robbi Toll Foundation, unifying cardiology, cardiac surgery, vascular medicine and vascular surgery across the health system with about 400 cardiovascular specialists. Jefferson teams have cared for more than 1,200 heart transplant patients, and Jefferson Lehigh Valley hospitals have completed more than 100 left ventricular assist device implants. The vascular program handled nearly 100,000 procedures in 2025, one of the highest volumes on the East Coast, and it recently launched a limb preservation program and a thoracoabdominal branch endoprosthesis program for complex aortic disease. In 2026, Jefferson’s cardiac specialists introduced transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement with the Evoque device and began offering renal denervation for patients whose hypertension doesn’t respond to other treatments. Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest in Allentown holds 3-star Society of Thoracic Surgeons ratings for coronary artery bypass grafting and multiprocedural surgery, and Jefferson Einstein Montgomery Hospital in Norristown, Pa. holds a 3-star rating for mitral valve surgery. Jefferson hospitals also earned the American Heart Association’s 2025 “Mission: Lifeline Regional Recognition” award for treating severe heart attacks, and the system’s cardiovascular history includes helping pioneer the heart-lung machine and some of the earliest U.S. use of coronary stents.
John Muir Health (Walnut Creek, Calif.). John Muir Health’s cardiovascular program spans its Concord (Calif.) and Walnut Creek medical centers, both designated by Contra Costa County as STEMI receiving centers for patients with severe heart attacks. Its surgeons have performed open-heart surgery since 1974 and now perform more than 400 open-heart operations a year, along with less-invasive procedures and minimally invasive valve replacements. Interventional cardiologists offer robotic angioplasty and cardiac catheterization, and the system’s cardiac rhythm centers treat arrhythmias, an area John Muir Health has focused on for nearly two decades. Heart failure patients receive multidisciplinary care that includes CardioMEMS pressure monitoring, and a dedicated cardiac rehabilitation program supports recovery after cardiac surgery or intervention. Although John Muir Health is a community-based system, its cardiovascular research program runs many of the same trials as major academic medical centers. John Muir Health-Concord Medical Center ranks No. 48 in the nation for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings.
Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore). Johns Hopkins’ Heart and Vascular Institute brings together cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, vascular surgeons and cardiac anesthesiologists, including more than 100 cardiologists providing care, research and training across Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Johns Hopkins performed the “blue baby” operation for congenital heart defects in 1944 and developed modern cardiopulmonary resuscitation in 1958. Its physicians and researchers also invented the first implantable, rechargeable cardiac pacemaker in 1972 and performed the first human implantation of an automatic defibrillator in 1982. More recent milestones include Maryland’s first adult extracorporeal membrane oxygenation program, and the institute offers percutaneous valve replacement, robot-assisted cardiac surgery and a mechanical circulatory support program. Its structural heart program performs a high volume of interventions for mitral and tricuspid valve disease, and its cardiac arrhythmia service treats atrial fibrillation and other heart rhythm disorders. The cardiomyopathy and heart failure program offers heart transplantation and specialized clinics, including a heart failure bridge clinic and a cardiac sarcoidosis program. The institute’s cardiovascular disease fellowship program trains future leaders in clinical cardiovascular medicine and research. Johns Hopkins Medicine ranks No. 27 in the nation for cardiology according to U.S. News & World Report for 2026-27.
Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.). Kaiser Permanente’s cardiology department reports that its members are 33% less likely to lose years of life to heart disease than nonmembers in their communities. About nine in 10 Kaiser Permanente patients have their blood pressure under control, compared with about one in two nationally, and the organization ranks in the top 5% nationally for statin use among members with cardiovascular disease. Its integrated model combines health plans, hospitals and medical groups on a single connected EHR, so cardiologists, pharmacists and nurses can coordinate care without external referrals. Complex electrophysiology and structural heart cases are centralized at hubs such as Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, and transcatheter aortic valve replacement patients typically go home within one to two days. In September 2026, Kaiser Permanente researchers received up to $16 million over three years from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health to study how agentic AI can be built into routine care for adults with heart failure. The organization also offers an eight-week home-based cardiac rehabilitation program with remote tracking and virtual check-ins, and an August 2026 Kaiser Permanente study found that automated patient portal messages, emails and texts increased statin refills. Kaiser Permanente San Francisco ranks No. 34 in the nation for cardiology in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings.
Keck Medicine of USC (Los Angeles). Keck Medicine of USC’s USC Cardiac and Vascular Institute provides multidisciplinary care through nine centers, including the USC Advanced Heart Failure Center, USC Comprehensive Aortic Center, USC Heart Rhythm Disorders Center and USC Valve Disease Center. Keck Medical Center of USC is rated high performing in various cardiac procedures and conditions, and ranks at No. 15 in California and No. 3 in Los Angeles Metro in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings for cardiology. The institute is recognized for its work in the Ross procedure, a complex double-valve operation with demonstrated survival benefits compared with mechanical aortic valve replacement, and its hypertrophic cardiomyopathy program combines cardiology and cardiac surgery physicians. The institute offers the totally thoracoscopic maze procedure, which treats longstanding persistent irregular heart rhythms without opening the chest cavity, often after endocardial ablation has failed. Through the USC Transfusion-Free Services and Patient Blood Management Program, it treats patients who do not want blood transfusions or other blood products because of religious beliefs or health concerns. In 2025, Keck Hospital of USC, USC Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale, Calif. and USC Arcadia (Calif.) Hospital received five American Heart Association “Get With The Guidelines” quality achievement awards with “Target: Honor Roll” recognitions for care in heart failure, resuscitation, Type 2 diabetes and stroke.
Lurie Children’s (Chicago). Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago ranks No. 16 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery in U.S. News & World Report fir 2026-27, and Newsweek named it No. 1 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery in its “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals” 2026 list for the third consecutive year. Its Heart Center is Illinois’ most comprehensive pediatric cardiac program and performs more than 450 heart surgeries a year, treating conditions from routine murmurs to complex congenital defects and rare lymphatic disorders. Lurie Children’s has led Illinois in pediatric heart transplantation since 1988, performing more pediatric heart transplants than any other provider in the state, and it offers ventricular assist device support as a bridge to transplant. In its Regenstein Cardiac Care Unit, one of the few of its kind in the nation, patients stay in a single private room with the same cardiac team from admission through discharge. A cardiovascular genetics center is built into the care team, and the neonatal ICU-cardiac neurodevelopmental program, one of only a few in the country, supports children from the NICU through adolescence, including through an education liaison who advocates for them in school. A 2026 Heart Center study found that nearly half of infants with severe heart defects are born in hospitals without cardiac surgery capabilities, underscoring how early access to specialized surgical centers can shorten hospital stays. In spring 2026, Lurie Children’s expanded its mobile cardiology clinic to the Austin HOPE Center in Chicago, bringing preventive cardiology, general cardiology and electrophysiology care to underserved communities.
M Health Fairview (Minneapolis). M Health Fairview Heart Center has provided cardiovascular care for more than 60 years across its Twin Cities locations, from prevention and cardiac wellness to complex cardiac surgery. M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center’s extracorporeal membrane oxygenation center of excellence has treated nearly 900 cardiac arrest patients over the past five years, with survival rates more than three times the national average. Building on its Minnesota Mobile Resuscitation Consortium, the nation’s first community-based mobile extracorporeal membrane oxygenation resuscitation program, Fairview now flies a specialized team by helicopter to three rural Minnesota communities in what it describes as a first-of-its-kind U.S. program. Its pulmonary hypertension program, accredited by the Pulmonary Hypertension Association since 2017, is the Upper Midwest’s referral center, drawing patients from six states, and reports 97.5% survival after pulmonary thromboendarterectomy. The program’s pulmonary hypertension patients have a one-year survival rate of 98.6% and a three-year rate of 84%, compared with 92% and 79% nationally, according to the association. Fairview surgeons performed the Midwest’s first partial heart transplant, on an infant born with transposition of the great arteries, and a patient at M Health Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina, Minn. became the first in the Twin Cities to receive a transcatheter tricuspid valve procedure. The center’s genetic cardiology program, one of only a few of its kind nationwide, identifies inherited heart risks, such as gene mutations linked to cardiomyopathy, before symptoms appear.
MUSC Children’s Health (Charleston, S.C.). MUSC Children’s Health’s Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center is South Carolina’s only tertiary-care pediatric cardiac surgical and interventional referral center and performs more than 400 open-heart and congenital heart surgeries a year. Since the Society of Thoracic Surgeons began publicly reporting congenital heart surgery results in 2015, the program has been rated significantly better than expected every year, a distinction held by only six to 12 of about 120 programs nationally in any given year. The center also reports that U.S. News & World Report ranked its surgical outcomes the best in the country for multiple rankings periods. In April 2026, a 6-year-old girl from Conway, S.C., received the state’s first successful partial heart transplant at MUSC. In June 2026, the center performed South Carolina’s first pediatric heart re-transplant, making a 13-year-old boy the youngest person in the state to receive a second heart transplant. The center offers subspecialty care in cardiac catheterization, cardiac critical care, echocardiography and advanced 3D imaging, heart failure, and arrhythmias and electrophysiology, including a dedicated unit for critically ill infants, children and adults with heart defects. MUSC Children’s ranks No. 6 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings.
Mass General Brigham (Somerville, Mass.). The Mass General Brigham Heart and Vascular Institute brings together 355 heart and vascular specialists providing care across the full continuum of cardiovascular disease. The program records more than 250,000 outpatient visits each year and offers specialized care in heart failure, coronary artery disease, electrophysiology, structural heart disease, adult congenital heart disease, cardiac amyloidosis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, thoracic aortic disease and women’s heart health. Patients have access to advanced diagnostics, cardiovascular genetics, minimally invasive valve therapies and multidisciplinary care teams that integrate cardiology, cardiac surgery and vascular medicine. The institute also maintains one of the nation’s largest cardiovascular research enterprises, with more than 550 active clinical trials and more than 1,000 peer-reviewed publications. Designated the No. 1 heart and vascular program for integrated medical research by the National Institutes of Health, the institute combines research and clinical care across the Mass General Brigham system. The system’s founding members, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, are consistently ranked among the nation’s top hospitals for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery by U.S. News & World Report, with the former ranked at No. 6 for cardiology and the latter ranked at No. 12 for the 2026-27 period.
Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.). Mayo Clinic’s department of cardiovascular medicine is one of the largest heart practices in the world, with more than 240 experts who diagnose and treat more than 100,000 adults and children each year. Its campuses in Rochester, Minn., Phoenix/Scottsdale, Ariz., and Jacksonville, Fla., are each ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals” for heart and heart surgery for 2026-27, and Mayo Clinic is a member of the publication’s “Honor Roll” as well. In August 2026, Mayo Clinic published results from a first-in-human feasibility study, led by a cardiac electrophysiologist, showing that noninvasive proton beam therapy reduced episodes of refractory ventricular tachycardia by about 79% in seven patients whose arrhythmias had persisted despite medication and prior catheter ablation. Each patient received a single treatment without anesthesia, and researchers found no treatment-related serious adverse events during up to two years of follow-up. Meanwhile, Mayo’s AI experts are moving cardiology research into clinical practice to identify strokes and predict heart disease risk, and its physician-scientists are testing robotic tools to perform emergency percutaneous coronary intervention remotely. In Rochester, Mayo Eugenio Litta Children’s Hospital has a cardiovascular unit for children before and after heart surgery, and Mayo shares physicians and resources with Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis through a pediatric cardiovascular collaboration.
Medical City Dallas. Medical City Heart Hospital, a facility of 909-bed Medical City Dallas, is a 91-bed acute care heart hospital with about 57 cardiovascular physicians and surgeons on its medical staff. In fall 2025, the hospital opened a $60 million, 60,000-square-foot expansion that added a 28-bed cardiovascular ICU and increased capacity from 63 to 91 beds. The Medical City Dallas transplant team has performed 674 heart transplants since the program began in 1991, and the hospital’s ventricular assist device program has nearly tripled its annual patient volume since 2023. Patients in cardiogenic shock who require extracorporeal membrane oxygenation are retrieved by Medical City Healthcare’s rapid extracorporeal membrane oxygenation deployment team, which has conducted more than 200 air and ground transports since 2021. The hospital holds the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization’s “Gold Level Center of Excellence Award,” effective for three years beginning January 2025, and a 3-star Society of Thoracic Surgeons rating for isolated coronary artery bypass grafting. It recently earned “Heart Failure Accreditation with Outpatient Services” from the American College of Cardiology, the only Dallas-Fort Worth hospital to receive the distinction. Healthgrades has named it one of “America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care” for three consecutive years, from 2024 through 2026.
MedStar Health (Columbia, Md.). MedStar Health’s heart and vascular network spans more than 200 specialists across 10 hospitals and more than 90 care sites in Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. In fiscal year 2024, the program performed 1,940 heart surgeries, 2,242 cardiac ablations, 551 transcatheter aortic valve replacements and 8,445 diagnostic and therapeutic cardiac catheterizations, along with 47 heart transplants and 65 durable left ventricular assist device procedures. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons has given it 3-star ratings for coronary artery bypass grafting, mitral valve repair and replacement, and its multiprocedural composite measure. MedStar researchers have more than 175 ongoing cardiovascular studies, and in May 2026 they published a study combining novel biomarkers to better predict the risk of early heart failure, stroke and sudden cardiac death in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. In September 2026, MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center in Clinton became the first in Maryland to deploy an AI-powered 3D pre-planning tool for cardiac catheterization procedures. The system trains cardiovascular fellows through its academic partnership with Georgetown University School of Medicine and operates MedSTAR Rapid Transport, the region’s only 24/7 emergency transport team. Washington, D.C.-based MedStar Washington Hospital Center’s cardiology, heart and vascular surgery program ranks No. 16 in America per U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings.
MemorialCare (Fountain Valley, Calif.). MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute at MemorialCare Long Beach (Calif.) Medical Center, Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, Calif. and Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach delivers over 50,000 cardiovascular diagnostic tests and treatments annually. A commitment to innovation and discovery dates back 75 years, when they coinvented the modern-day maximum stress test to detect heart disease, which now saves hundreds of thousands of lives globally each year. Other impactful innovations include the first blood test, first computer program to gauge verity and then size and location of myocardial infarction, and first cardiology computer registry. It was among the first to create a chest pain center and use a blood bank for open heart surgery, the region’s first to implant an artificial heart valve, and among the first to perform angioplasty and start a coronary care unit. Innovation continues with robust research, treatments and clinical trials. For example, all adult hospitals are engaged in pulse field ablation next-generation non-thermal ablation to selectively target cardiac tissue, reducing damage to nearby critical structures, offering a safer, more precise option for patients with atrial fibrillation. With Miller Children’s & Women’s and Long Beach Medical Center sharing a campus, together they offer a lifetime of care on one site. Miller Children’s & Women’s is among a few hospitals with comprehensive congenital cardiac and surgical care as early as in utero and has one of the region’s only dedicated pediatric cardiothoracic ICUs. MemorialCare continues to receive honors from U.S. News & World Report, Healthgrades, American Heart Association and others.
Michigan Medicine (Ann Arbor). University of Michigan Health’s Samuel & Jean Frankel Cardiovascular Center ranks No. 1 in Michigan and No. 39 in the nation for cardiology in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings. The center sees more than 92,000 outpatients a year and performs about 1,500 adult open-heart operations and 3,000 heart rhythm procedures annually. Its 350,000-square-foot facility includes a 24-bed surgical post-procedure ICU, nine cardiac procedure rooms, four cardiac surgery operating rooms, two vascular surgery operating rooms, two endovascular procedure labs and 36 clinic exam rooms. Clinical programs focus on heart failure, heart transplantation, adult congenital heart disease, valve surgery, heart rhythm disorders and preventive cardiology. Faculty in the division of cardiology conduct basic and translational research in arrhythmia, cardiac muscle cell biology, cardiovascular biomechanics, cardiovascular genetics, tissue and cell regeneration, and vascular and thrombosis biology, supported by a new cardiovascular research center. U-M researchers recently developed an AI tool that can diagnose coronary microvascular dysfunction from a standard 10-second EKG strip, outperforming earlier models. The division also trains future cardiovascular leaders through its fellowship programs and offers continuing medical education courses taught by its faculty.
Montefiore Einstein (Bronx, N.Y.). Montefiore Einstein Center for Heart and Vascular Care has 138 specialists and serves a patient population of whom 85% are covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Montefiore was named among the top heart transplant centers in the U.S. based on three-year post-transplant survival rates in the July 2025 Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients report, and it offers transplants to high-risk patients, patients living with HIV and those seeking a bloodless procedure. As of the first quarter of 2026, interventional coronary volume was up 15% year over year and electrophysiology ablation procedures were up 19%. The center supports more than 40 active clinical trials focused on structural heart disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and gene-targeted therapies, and it performed several first-in-human percutaneous valvular procedures in 2025 and 2026. In 2025, Montefiore became one of New York’s first institutions to launch a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy center of excellence, offering minimally invasive septal reduction therapies and investigational drugs. Its faculty recently pioneered three-dimensional reconstruction of cardiac anatomy using intracardiac ultrasound to support complex procedures such as ventricular tachycardia ablation. Montefiore has expanded advanced cardiac imaging protocols for early detection of coronary artery disease across all Bronx locations and Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties, and its advanced cardiac imaging program is projected to reach more than 1,000 procedures per year.
Mount Sinai Health System (New York City). Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital, established in 2006, has 182 beds and 160 physicians. Its catheterization lab performed more than 16,000 procedures in 2024, the highest volume in New York state, and holds the highest statewide safety rating among more than 60 institutions that perform percutaneous coronary interventions. The lab’s complication, mortality and readmission rates are lower than state and national averages, and its “CCC Live Cases” webcasts, launched in 2009, have drawn more than 22,600 views from 176 countries. The lab is pursuing several AI projects, including the “YELLOW” trials, which aim to predict patients’ responses to specific medications, and an AI assistant that handles pre-procedural patient phone calls. Mount Sinai Health System also launched the Adams Valve Institute, a global center for heart valve disease care and surgical techniques, and deployed Echo IQ’s AI-powered EchoSolv AS software to help cardiologists assess severe aortic stenosis. The department receives about $25 million in research funding and grants. In October 2026, The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai received a $2 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, which the school will use to discern the best therapy for treating spontaneous coronary artery dissection. The Mount Sinai Hospital ranks No. 5 for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report‘s “Best Hospitals” rankings and was named to the 2026-27 “Honor Roll” for the 11th consecutive year.
NYU Langone Health (New York City). Cardiologists at NYU Langone Heart prevent, detect and treat conditions of the heart and blood vessels, including heart rhythm disorders, coronary artery disease, lower extremity and carotid artery disease, cardiomyopathy and heart valve disease. Patients with rhythm disorders such as atrial fibrillation are referred to electrophysiology specialists at its heart rhythm center, while its cardiac catheterization laboratory uses minimally invasive techniques to diagnose and treat blocked arteries. The heart failure advanced care center and heart transplant program offer more intensive options for advanced disease, including novel medications, implantable devices and heart transplantation. At the system’s heart valve center, interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons repair and replace valves using transcatheter and minimally invasive techniques, and the adult cardiac surgery team performs mitral valve repair and replacement, aortic valve replacement and coronary artery bypass surgery. The NYU Langone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease provides specialized care for high-risk patients, and its cardio-oncology program supports the heart health of patients with cancer and cancer survivors. U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Hospitals” rankings named NYU Langone No. 1 in the nation for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery for the second year in a row as of 2026-27.
Naples (Fla.) Comprehensive Health. The Rooney Heart Institute at Naples Comprehensive Health has earned 3-star ratings from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the organization’s highest quality category, for more than a decade consecutively in coronary artery bypass grafting, along with 3-star distinctions in aortic valve replacement and the “Multiprocedural Composite Quality Rating.” NCH was named among Healthgrades’ “Top 50 Hospitals” in the nation for 2026, placing it in the top 1% of U.S. hospitals for the second consecutive year. NCH became the first hospital in the U.S. to deploy Caristo’s AI-powered CaRi-Heart and CaRi-Plaque technologies, which can identify elevated heart attack risk up to a decade before symptoms develop. The institute performed Florida’s first transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement and was the first in the state to use the next-generation Abbott MitraClip and TriClip G5 systems and to offer Evoque valve replacement. Its ST-elevation myocardial infarction program performs in the 95th percentile nationally, with an average door-to-balloon time of 38 minutes compared with a national average of about 75 minutes. The institute’s average length of stay for cardiac diagnoses is 3.87 days, beating a Vizient top-quartile benchmark of 3.95 days, and its 30-day heart failure readmission rate is 16.3%, compared with a CMS benchmark of 19.7%. NCH has raised nearly $200 million toward the R.M. Schulze Family Heart and Stroke Critical Care Center and has announced plans to develop a comprehensive heart transplant program, with operations anticipated to begin in September 2027.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Columbus, Ohio). The Heart Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital has performed more than 100 heart transplants since 2003 and 70 ventricular assist device implants since 2010. In 2024, the center completed 429 cardiothoracic surgeries, 513 interventional cardiology procedures and more than 22,000 outpatient cardiology visits, and it expanded its cardiology clinic space by nearly 50% to meet growing demand. U.S. News & World Report ranked Nationwide Children’s No. 23 in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery for 2026-27, and Newsweek ranked it No. 8 for pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery in 2026. The hospital had the first pediatric catheterization lab in the U.S. to be accredited by the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission, and it was one of the first programs in the country accredited as a comprehensive care center by the Adult Congenital Heart Association. The center participates in device trials including bioresorbable atrial septal defect closure devices and expandable stents designed to grow with pediatric patients. Its associated center for cardiovascular research received more than $12 million in new grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association and other funders in the 2024-25 academic year, when the center also produced more than 130 peer-reviewed publications. Nationwide Children’s is also building a new inpatient tower, scheduled to open in phases between 2027 and 2028, that will add critical care capacity, including neonatal and pediatric ICUs.
Nebraska Medicine (Omaha). The Heart and Vascular Center at Nebraska Medicine provides comprehensive care for all aspects of the cardiovascular system. From treatment of congenital conditions to complex interventional, electrophysiology, cardiac and vascular surgical procedures, Nebraska Medicine uses the latest technology to care for heart and vascular patients. The team rapidly expanded its use of minimally invasive transcatheter heart procedures and was the first in Nebraska to perform percutaneous balloon lithotripsy for the treatment of mitral stenosis and the “UNICORN” procedure for heart valve replacement, plus the first in Omaha to use renal denervation for the treatment of high blood pressure. As the only adult heart transplant program in the state, Nebraska Medicine has performed over 600 heart transplants. The heart failure program received American Heart Association’s “Get with the Guidelines–Heart Failure Gold Plus Performance Award” and offers advanced treatments, including the implantation of the first cardiac contractility modulation devices. The electrophysiology team was the first in an eight-state region to perform a pulse field ablation procedure to treat atrial fibrillation and has surpassed 900 left atrial appendage occlusion procedures. Most recently, the team has been recognized by the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association as a center of excellence. The center offers over 25 active clinical trials supporting heart and vascular programs. U.S. News & World Report again ranked Nebraska Medicine-Nebraska Medical Center as the No. 1 hospital in Nebraska for 2026-27.
NewYork-Presbyterian (New York City). NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell ranked No. 2 in the nation for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Hospitals” rankings. Through the hospital’s affiliation with Columbia University and Weill Cornell, physician-scientists are leading 325 clinical trials across all areas of heart disease with more than 3,900 patients enrolled, supported by $14.8 million from the National Institutes of Health and other organizations for basic, translational and clinical research. NewYork-Presbyterian performed the first successful pediatric heart transplant in 1984, and the hospital reports that its heart transplant program is the largest and most experienced in the U.S. The hospital performed the first robotic heart surgery in 2001 and transcatheter aortic valve replacement, now a global standard of care, was developed there over the past 20 years. Its surgeons perform coronary artery bypass grafting, aortic aneurysm and valve-sparing aneurysm repair, cardiac tumor surgery, and adult congenital and pediatric heart surgery, and they take on high-risk conditions such as cardiac amyloidosis. The transplant team is also pursuing high-risk and multiorgan transplants and has pioneered the use of left ventricular assist devices to stabilize patients awaiting transplant. Through a new philanthropic campaign, NewYork-Presbyterian plans to invest in AI, machine learning and predictive analytics, including AI-powered tools to analyze every electrocardiogram in its system for warning signs, and to expand its remote-monitoring program.
Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Northwell Health’s flagship cardiac center is the Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. The heart hospital holds 3-star ratings, the highest possible, from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in all cardiac surgery categories, and CMS recognized it for the nation’s lowest 30-day mortality rate for coronary artery bypass graft surgery. It is part of Northwell’s Cardiovascular Institute, which has more than 400 cardiologists and cardiac surgeons at more than 100 locations across New York City, Staten Island, Long Island, Westchester, the Hudson Valley and the state of Connecticut. The institute cared for more than 40,000 patients last year. Its care is organized into eight centers covering arrhythmias, atherosclerosis, heart and lung failure, pediatric and adult congenital heart disease, cardiovascular prevention and wellness, valvular disease, vascular disease and women’s heart health. Institute investigators are running more than 70 clinical trials and collaborate on cardiovascular research with scientists at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. North Shore University Hospital is also a teaching hospital for the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and offers residencies and clinical fellowships. North Shore University Hospital ranks No. 18 in the nation for cardiology in U.S. News & World Report for the 2026-27 rankings period.
Northwestern Medicine (Chicago). Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, founded in 2005, has helped Northwestern Memorial Hospital earn its ranking among U.S. News & World Report’s top 10 cardiology, heart and vascular surgery programs for 11 years, most recently in 2026-27. The institute sees 48,000 new patients and performs 2,750 cardiac surgeries each year, and its cardiac surgery volume has grown 900% over the past 20 years. Newsweek named Northwestern Memorial among the world’s best hospitals for cardiac surgery in 2026, coming in at No. 12 nationally. CMS data from the hospital value-based purchasing program also gave the hospital the nation’s best heart failure performance rate from October 2024 to September 2025. Institute researchers have published 3,100 cardiac and vascular manuscripts over the past three years, received $100 million in National Institutes of Health funding since 2020 and secured a record six American Heart Association Strategically Funded Research Network grants totaling $25 million. Patients from all 50 states and at least 40 countries have sought care at the institute. Through its “FAST” program, nurses schedule a virtual intake visit within 24 hours of a patient’s first contact and coordinate records, appointments and travel, with in-person care available at 19 Chicagoland locations. In February 2026, Mr. Bluhm and the Bluhm Family Foundation donated $50 million to the institute, bringing their total contributions to $135 million.
Ochsner Health (New Orleans). Ochsner Health’s John Ochsner Heart & Vascular Institute performed Louisiana’s first heart transplant in 1970, as well as the region’s first pediatric heart transplant and first total artificial heart implant, and it also pioneered percutaneous atrial septal defect closure. Ochsner is one of a small number of U.S. institutions to have performed more than 1,000 heart transplants, and performs about 30 annually. The institute’s structural heart program has completed more than 2,000 transcatheter aortic valve replacements, and it operates the region’s largest comprehensive arrhythmia management center along with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and left ventricular assist device programs. In 2025, the institute became the first in Louisiana to implement an AI-powered technology that analyzes 3D cardiac maps in real time during catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation. Ochsner’s digital medicine program uses connected devices, remote monitoring and clinician support to manage hypertension and diabetes, and studies of the program have shown reductions in emergency department visits and hospital admissions. U.S. News & World Report ranked Ochsner Medical Center-New Orleans the No. 1 hospital in Louisiana and the New Orleans metro area for 2026-27 and rated it high-performing in heart attack, heart failure, arrhythmia, bypass surgery and TAVR. In 2025, 14 Ochsner hospitals received American Heart Association “Get With The Guidelines” achievement awards for cardiovascular and stroke care, and the institute holds transcatheter valve certification and electrophysiology accreditation from the American College of Cardiology.
Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health (Oklahoma City). Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health ranks No. 24 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings, up from No. 38 the previous year. Its heart center is Oklahoma’s only comprehensive pediatric cardiac surgery and United Network for Organ Sharing-approved heart transplant program, and it records more than 10,000 pediatric cardiology visits and more than 500 pediatric heart surgeries each year. Its open-heart surgery survival rate of 98.8% is above the national average, regardless of surgical complexity. In 2026, a team there performed Oklahoma’s first partial heart transplant, replacing an infant’s failing valves with living donor tissue that can grow with the child. The center runs Oklahoma’s only pediatric cardiac ICU, and its extracorporeal membrane oxygenation program is a nationally designated center of excellence. More than 150 physicians, surgeons, nurses and specialists support the program, including Oklahoma’s only fellowship-trained pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists, and the center conducts research on hypoplastic left heart syndrome with colleagues nationwide. Its “Hearts at Home” program teaches parents of children who have had single ventricle surgery how to care for them at home, and the center also offers fetal heart care and an adult congenital heart disease program.
Orlando (Fla.) Health. Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute, which established a dedicated heart program more than 60 years ago, has about 205 physicians and advanced practice providers and offers outpatient care at 30 sites. Its extracorporeal membrane oxygenation program grew from six patients in 2020 to 42 in 2024 and more than 68 currently, while use of mechanical circulatory support rose from 13 patients in 2020 to 146. The structural heart program averages 60 procedures per month, grew more than 8% between 2024 and 2025, and cut the time from referral to procedure from more than 120 days to fewer than 75 in a single year, while its left atrial appendage program has implanted more than 1,000 patients. The institute implanted more than 20 ventricular assist devices in one year alone, ensures follow-up access within two days of discharge for heart failure patients and has expanded outpatient heart failure infusion clinics to more than 20 sites. Orlando Health received Society of Thoracic Surgeons top ratings for aortic valve replacement and coronary artery bypass surgery from 2022 to 2025. The system receives more than $8 million to support more than 20 industry-sponsored trials, and its cardiovascular diseases fellowship, launched a little over a decade ago, was the first of its kind in Central Florida. Orlando Health-Orlando Regional Medical Center has earned a top 50 national ranking in cardiology, heart and vascular surgery from U.S. News & World Report for four consecutive years, most recently for 2026-27.
Penn Medicine (Philadelphia). Penn Medicine ranks No. 24 in the nation for cardiology in U.S. News & World Report for 2026-27, and in October 2026 it announced the Smilow Center for Precision Therapeutics, funded by a $25 million gift from the Smilow Foundation, to advance gene editing and other precision therapies aimed at the underlying causes of cardiovascular disease. The center will be led by the chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine, and aims to develop the first curative therapies for heart disease through research, first-in-human clinical trials and patient care. The division of cardiovascular medicine has more than 120 faculty members and 60 fellows, with clinical programs at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospital and the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Penn Medicine performs more than 1,000 heart valve procedures each year and is a leader in aortic and mitral valve repair. Its cardiovascular teams have pioneered catheter-based interventions such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement, along with curative arrhythmia ablation techniques and advanced left ventricular assist devices. Penn researchers also developed lomitapide and evinacumab, two lipid-lowering drugs for severe homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. Division faculty make up a substantial part of the Penn Cardiovascular Institute, which supports cardiovascular science and innovation across the Perelman School of Medicine.
Piedmont Healthcare (Atlanta). Piedmont Heart Institute operates across 28 hospitals and more than 65 physician offices in Georgia, with its main facilities at Piedmont Atlanta and regional centers in Buckhead, Sandy Springs, Athens and Augusta, Ga. Its services include advanced heart failure therapies, cardiac surgery, electrophysiology, interventional cardiology, structural and valvular heart treatments, and thoracic and vascular surgery. For advanced heart failure, the institute offers heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support, including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and left ventricular assist devices. Its general cardiologists have special expertise in lipid management, sports cardiology and women’s heart health, and its electrophysiology team has particular expertise in atrial fibrillation care. Piedmont Heart Institute researchers run clinical trials of new diagnostic, preventive and critical care devices and medications for arrhythmias, peripheral vascular disease, coronary artery disease, valvular disease and congestive heart failure. Piedmont Healthcare’s heart program ranks among the top 20 heart programs in the nation and No. 1 in the Southeastern U.S. for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery, according to U.S. News & World Report‘s 2026-27 rankings. Healthgrades has also named it among “America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care” for six consecutive years.
Rady Children’s Health (San Diego). Rady Children’s Heart Institute performs more than 600 cardiovascular surgeries and records more than 29,000 outpatient visits a year. It is a major referral center for Imperial, Riverside and Orange counties in California, as well as in Hawaii, New Mexico, Mexico and the Pacific Rim islands. Rady Children’s was the first in the world to perform a nonsurgical, catheter-only procedure in a patient with single-ventricle congenital heart disease, and it pioneered the nation’s first pediatric image-guided intervention center of its kind, which uses low- or no-dose radiation for cardiac interventions. It was also the first in San Diego to launch a 3D heart modeling program and one of the first pediatric centers in the country to take part in the Melody transcatheter pulmonary valve program. The Heart Institute leads or collaborates on 65 research projects, including the only lab in the world focused on treating Jacobsen syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that includes heart defects. Rady Children’s runs one of the country’s largest pediatric Kawasaki disease programs, holds accreditation from the Adult Congenital Heart Association and the Children’s Cardiomyopathy Foundation, and is a California Children’s Services-designated center of excellence. Rady Children’s ranks No. 9 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings.
Riley Children’s Health (Indianapolis). Riley Children’s Health and its Riley Heart Center ranks among the top 10 nationally for volume of highly complex pediatric heart surgeries. Each year, its team of more than 30 pediatric cardiologists, three pediatric cardiothoracic surgeons and more than 225 cardiac staff members handles more than 18,200 cardiovascular outpatient visits, more than 500 heart surgeries and more than 26,800 echocardiogram interpretations. Riley’s observed pediatric heart surgery mortality rate was 1.59%, compared with a Society of Thoracic Surgeons national average of 2.39%, and Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients data place it among the nation’s best for heart transplant outcomes. In early 2025, its division chief of cardiothoracic surgery performed his 200th heart transplant at Indianapolis-based Riley Children’s and IU Health; he was also the first physician in Indiana and the second in North America to implant the Berlin Heart. His colleague at Riley Children’s received the STS’ 2025 “Earl Bakken Scientific Achievement Award” for developing a “Fontan pump” to support patients with single-ventricle heart defects. Riley is one of 11 pediatric centers accredited as a pulmonary hypertension center of comprehensive care, runs Indiana’s only comprehensive adult congenital heart disease program accredited by the Adult Congenital Heart Association, and has held the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization’s platinum-level award since 2019. In 2025, it launched Indiana’s only comprehensive pediatric cardiac rehabilitation program, and as a “Project ADAM” affiliate, it has helped more than 75 schools prepare for sudden cardiac arrest. ranks No. 31 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings, making it Indiana’s only nationally ranked program in the specialty.
Rush University Medical Center (Chicago). Rush University Medical Center’s structural heart disease program offers catheter-based procedures that treat heart and valve conditions without open heart surgery, and its cardiology services also include electrophysiology, ventricular assist devices, pulmonary hypertension care and sports cardiology. Its imaging capabilities include cardiac MRI, sarcoid PET imaging, CT angiography and echocardiography, and patients can book heart screening packages without a referral. Rush says it is one of very few health systems with a dedicated cardio-oncology program, which works with cancer care teams to prevent or minimize heart damage from cancer treatment. The Rush Heart Center for Women in Chicago focuses on cardiovascular risks specific to women, such as coronary microvascular dysfunction, and works alongside Rush’s cardio-obstetrics program and Rush Copley Medical Center’s Women’s Heart Center in Aurora, Ill. Cardiology teams across Illinois and in Indiana share physicians, technology and communications with the downtown medical center, and patients can schedule cardiology telehealth visits as soon as the next day. Rush University Medical Center ranks No. 14 in the nation for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings and is on the publication’s “Best Hospitals Honor Roll.” The Society of Thoracic Surgeons has also given Rush its highest 3-star rating for coronary artery bypass grafting.
RWJBarnabas Health (West Orange, N.J.). RWJBarnabas Health’s Heart & Vascular program spans 12 adult acute care hospitals and about 100 ambulatory sites in New Jersey, with more than 800 cardiologists, vascular surgeons and cardiac surgeons, more than 30 cardiac catheterization labs, and a cardiac PET/CT program that supports the nation’s fourth-largest cardiac amyloidosis program. The system runs New Jersey’s only heart transplant program, and its two transplant centers, at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital New Brunswick (N.J.) and Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, N.J., have completed more than 1,450 heart transplants. Its four cardiac surgery hospitals together form the state’s largest structural heart program, with more than 1,600 structural heart procedures performed, and RWJBarnabas runs the largest left atrial appendage occlusion program in New Jersey and New York. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital was the first program in New Jersey and the 26th nationally to earn The Joint Commission’s comprehensive cardiac center certification, and it holds a 3-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. In partnership with Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the system produces more than 300 cardiovascular publications a year and trains more than 70 fellows. In March 2026, RWJBarnabas and Rutgers Health presented 70 accepted abstracts at the American College of Cardiology’s annual scientific session. As New Jersey’s largest provider of charity care, RWJBarnabas provided charity care to more than 10,000 heart and vascular patients in 2024.
Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute (Kansas City, Mo.). Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute ranks No. 47 in the nation for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings and was the third hospital in the U.S. to earn comprehensive cardiac center certification from The Joint Commission. The institute reached its 1,100th heart transplant in September 2026, three years after its 1,000th transplant made it one of only 23 U.S. programs to reach that milestone. Its valve program was one of the first in the nation to offer transcatheter aortic valve replacement and performed its 1,000th procedure in late 2023. The institute is one of four analytic centers for the American College of Cardiology’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry, alongside Duke, Harvard and Yale, and it publishes more than 200 peer-reviewed articles a year. Its research program includes centers of excellence and core laboratories in cardiovascular outcomes research, health economics and technology assessment, intravascular imaging and noninvasive imaging. The Muriel I. Kauffman Women’s Heart Center was the first center of its kind in the U.S. to take a proactive role in women’s heart health, and other specialty programs cover amyloidosis, adult congenital heart disease, cardio-oncology and heart conditions in pregnancy. Saint Luke’s “Cardiovascular Consultants” extends the institute’s care through six Kansas City-area locations and seven outreach sites, and the institute trains more cardiology fellows than any other program in the region.
Sanford Medical Center Fargo (N.D.). Sanford Medical Center Fargo was named one of Premier’s “Top 50 Cardiovascular Hospitals” in 2025, the only hospital in North Dakota, South Dakota or Minnesota to earn the distinction. The program, which performed its first open-heart surgery in 1969, has a team of more than 400 professionals, including nearly 40 physicians and advanced practice providers, and treats about 1,300 heart attack patients annually. Sanford Fargo has surpassed 2,000 transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedures and completed its 1,000th Watchman procedure, and in January 2026 it performed the first Evoque procedure in the Dakotas. The hospital is North Dakota’s first and only provider of cardiac positron emission tomography imaging and performed the state’s first renal denervation procedure for treatment-resistant hypertension. It increased atrial fibrillation ablation capacity to four procedures per day in late 2025 with plans to reach five daily, and it added a third cardiac MRI system, an advanced heart failure program and a chronic total occlusion percutaneous coronary intervention service. Cardiologists provide outreach services in 12 communities outside the Fargo metro area, and the hospital has earned the American College of Cardiology’s “Chest Pain-MI Registry Performance Achievement Award” 10 times. Sanford Fargo also launched a cardiovascular disease fellowship with the University of North Dakota, having welcomed its inaugural class in 2026.
Sarasota (Fla.) Memorial Health Care System. Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, which marked its 100th anniversary in 2025, performs about 1,000 cardiac surgeries and 6,000 catheter-based cardiovascular procedures annually. It is the only hospital in Florida to have maintained CMS’ 5-star overall hospital quality rating continuously since the rating system launched in 2016, and Society of Thoracic Surgeons data rank its heart program in the top 3% nationwide. For the sixth consecutive year, Sarasota Memorial earned the “Mitral Valve Repair Reference Center Award,” and it is the only hospital in Florida and one of 25 health systems nationwide to hold the designation. It was the first hospital in Southwest Florida to earn the American College of Cardiology’s transcatheter aortic valve replacement certification, and its physicians were among the earliest adopters of FDA-approved transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement. Through its Kolschowsky Research and Education Institute, the program managed more than $900,000 in sponsor-supported cardiovascular research funding in 2025 and has 37 active cardiac studies and 11 active vascular studies. Premier named Sarasota Memorial one of the nation’s “15 Top Health Systems” in 2026, and U.S. News & World Report rated it high-performing in abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, heart attack, heart arrhythmia, heart bypass surgery, aortic valve surgery, pacemaker implantation and TAVR for 2026-27. The system’s cardiac surgery quality committee works with experts from Columbia University’s division of cardiac surgery to evaluate mortality, complications, length of stay and readmission rates.
Scripps Health (San Diego). Scripps Health cardiologists care for more than 216,000 cardiovascular patients each year, and U.S. News & World Report ranked the system No. 32 nationally for cardiology in 2026-27. The system’s Prebys Cardiovascular Institute, opened in 2015 on the campus of Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, houses seven catheterization labs, six advanced imaging, mapping and ablation labs, two hybrid surgical suites and 164 acute care and ICU rooms. In 2016, Scripps opened the John R. Anderson V Medical Pavilion, one of two outpatient clinics in California with full-service cardiac catheterization lab services outside a hospital, and in 2017 it opened the Scripps Women’s Heart Center. Scripps interventional cardiologists were the first in the San Diego region to implant the first FDA-approved transcatheter aortic valve replacement device for severe aortic regurgitation and a newly approved transfemoral mitral valve replacement device. Four Scripps hospitals have emergency departments recognized by the American Heart Association as ST-elevation myocardial infarction receiving centers. Scripps cardiologists are participating in 51 active clinical trials, with 23 more set to begin within six months, and Scripps Cardiovascular Services has $5.6 million in research funding. Supply contracts for cardiac rhythm management and coronary stent supplies save the system about $5 million annually.
St. David’s HealthCare (Austin, Texas). St. David’s Medical Center is home to the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute, an international treatment, training and research center whose electrophysiologists treat heart rhythm disorders ranging from relatively simple to highly complex. St. David’s Heart Hospital of Austin, a 72-bed hospital within the system, has been named one of the “50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals” powered by Premier for 15 years and ranked by Healthgrades as the No. 1 cardiac program in Texas for seven consecutive years. The heart hospital has six operating rooms, including three hybrid ORs, three catheterization labs, a 24-hour emergency department and an advanced heart failure program that offers extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and left ventricular assist devices. It is also home to one of the largest nonacademic cardiovascular research programs in the world, with studies of cardiac medications, cardiac rehabilitation, structural heart devices, therapeutic implants, and treatments for atrial fibrillation and heart failure. St. David’s HealthCare’s advanced cardiac care center includes clinics for cardiac amyloidosis, pulmonary hypertension, heart failure and transcatheter aortic valve replacement, and its heart valve clinic brings interventional cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons together for transcatheter and minimally invasive valve procedures. St. David’s Medical Center ranks No. 43 in the nation and No. 4 in Texas for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report‘s 2026-27 rankings.
St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center (Roslyn, N.Y.). Catholic Health’s St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center is New York’s only specialty-designated cardiac center. It ranks No. 17 in the nation for cardiology, according to U.S. News & World Report for 2026-27. In February 2026, it earned its fourth consecutive “HeartCARE Center National Distinction of Excellence” from the American College of Cardiology, and it is one of only two New York facilities with the designation. The hospital has earned Magnet designation for nursing excellence five consecutive times and was the first hospital in New York to achieve Magnet with Distinction. It has also received an “A” hospital safety grade from The Leapfrog Group 27 times, the most of any New York hospital since the grades began. St. Francis has provided cardiovascular care for more than 50 years and operates St. Francis Heart Center locations across Nassau and Suffolk counties, and its DeMatteis Center for Cardiac Research and Education runs the largest medically staffed cardiac fitness and rehabilitation program on Long Island. In May 2026, the St. Francis Heart Center at Good Samaritan University Hospital, a network affiliate that U.S. News rates high performing in heart bypass surgery and transcatheter aortic valve replacement, reached 1,000 of those valve replacement procedures. St. Francis also hosts an annual community symposium on “National Wear Red Day” focused on the prevention, screening and diagnosis of cardiovascular disease in women.
Stanford Health Care (Palo Alto, Calif.). Stanford Health Care’s cardiovascular program dates to 1968, when Dr. Norman Shumway performed the first adult heart transplant in the U.S., and it has since completed more than 30,000 cardiac procedures. In 1981, Stanford Medicine cardiothoracic surgeons performed the world’s first successful heart-lung transplant, and Stanford Health Care now runs the longest-running heart transplant center in the U.S. Stanford Hospital ranks No. 2 in California and No. 9 in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery per U.S. News & World Report for 2026-27. The department serves more than 250,000 patients annually through Stanford University Medical Center and VA Palo Alto, and its general cardiology clinics see more than 5,000 patients each year. Its subspecialty programs include cardio-oncology, cardio-rheumatology, a women’s heart health clinic, a center for inherited cardiovascular disease, and care for advanced heart failure, arrhythmias, valve disease, and heart and lung transplants. Stanford Health Care was the first in Northern California to perform transcatheter aortic valve replacement, performed the first beating-heart mitral valve repair in the West in 2017 and is the largest aortic emergency practice in California. A Stanford Medicine cardiothoracic surgeon invented the TT-Maze procedure, a minimally invasive treatment for atrial fibrillation now used by hospitals nationwide, and in 2017 Stanford collaborated with Apple to study how iPhones and Apple Watches can detect the condition.
Sutter Health (Sacramento, Calif.). Sutter Health delivers advanced heart and vascular services across Northern California. In 2025, over 488,000 Sutter patients received heart and vascular care from 21 hospitals, five cardiac surgery programs and 60-plus outpatient care centers. Specialized capabilities include transcatheter valve repair and replacement, HeartFlow FFRCT analysis, advanced heart and vascular imaging, robotic cardiac surgery and pulsed field ablation for atrial fibrillation. Launched in April 2023, a systemwide heart failure care pathway and virtual pharmacy ambulatory care clinic has strengthened guideline‑directed medical therapy, driving a 45% reduction in one‑year mortality and a 60% decrease in cardiac‑related hospitalizations. A cardiac device management center supports coordinated care for people with cardiac implantable electronic devices, providing 17,000 patients access to lifesaving remote heart monitoring technologies. Patients can access over 50 clinical trials advancing next‑generation cardiovascular treatments and technologies. Sutter continues to expand access through recent strategic investments, including a specialty care center near Sacramento and a cardiovascular care center in Sonoma County. Recognitions include Joint Commission comprehensive cardiac center certification, U.S. News & World Report “high-performing” hospital designation, American Heart Association “Get With The Guidelines” excellence, “A” grades for safety from The Leapfrog Group and more.
Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital. Tampa General Hospital’s Heart & Vascular Institute performed more than 20,000 cardiovascular procedures in 2025, including 6,557 cardiac catheterization procedures, 2,267 electrophysiology procedures, 1,273 cardiothoracic surgeries and 1,824 vascular surgeries. The institute, part of an academic health system operated in partnership with Tampa-based USF Health, has 86 specialists across seven centers of excellence and 15 subspecialties. U.S. News & World Report ranked Tampa General among the top 50 hospitals in the nation for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery for 2025-26 and “high-performing” for 2026-27, and Newsweek named it No. 82 nationally for cardiac care for 2026. Its heart transplant program reported No. 1-ranked 30-day graft survival outcomes and is one of three heart transplant programs nationally to achieve five-tier ratings, and the hospital ranked No. 1 in the nation for transplant volume in 2024 with a record 889 transplants, including 51 heart transplants. The institute operates the region’s first and only C-Shock program, which coordinates multidisciplinary care for patients in cardiogenic shock. Physicians use AI-enabled CT plaque analysis, interventions guided by intravascular ultrasound and optical coherence tomography, 3D cardiovascular simulation and minimally invasive robotic cardiac surgery to plan and treat complex cases. Through the David and Tara H. Ruberg Heart and Vascular Innovation and Research Center of Excellence, the institute supported more than $26 million in grants and clinical trial funding in 2025, and conducted 67 clinical trials and research projects.
Texas Children’s (Houston). Texas Children’s Heart Center is a global leader in pediatric and congenital heart care, delivering outcomes that outperform national benchmarks while treating some of the world’s rarest and most complex cardiac conditions. Ranked No. 1 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery by U.S. News & World Report for 10 consecutive years as of 2026-27, the program cared for more than 34,000 patients in 2025 and performed more than 1,100 surgeries, 30 heart transplants, 1,700 interventional procedures and nearly 40,000 echocardiograms. The center is headquartered in the Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower, where nine floors are dedicated to cardiac care and include four cardiovascular operating rooms and four cardiac catheterization labs. The Heart Center also features a specialized catheterization room paired with an intra-operative MRI to support advanced, image-guided procedures. Its heart transplant program, one of the nation’s largest, has performed more than 600 transplants, and its adult congenital heart program is the largest accredited adult congenital heart disease program in Texas. Its fetal center performs more fetal atrial septal interventions in hypoplastic left heart syndrome than any other center in the world, and Texas Children’s is home to one of the highest-volume and most advanced extracorporeal membrane oxygenation programs in the world, designated an Extracorporeal Life Support Organization “Platinum” center of excellence.
UAB Medicine (Birmingham, Ala.). The UAB Cardiovascular Institute at UAB Hospital brings together more than 100 cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, vascular surgeons, electrophysiologists, advanced practice providers and researchers and serves as a referral center for patients across Alabama and the Southeast. The institute’s cardiovascular operating room includes eight operating suites that support robotic cardiac surgery, minimally invasive valve procedures, endovascular therapies, hybrid procedures and complex interventional cardiology and electrophysiology procedures. UAB holds Society of Thoracic Surgeons 3-star ratings, the highest possible, in all six adult cardiac surgery categories, placing it within the top 1% of participating sites. UAB Hospital is the only hospital in Alabama to earn The Joint Commission’s “Gold Seal of Approval” as a comprehensive heart attack center, and U.S. News & World Report ranks it the No. 1 hospital in the state. In 2026, Newsweek named UAB Medicine’s cardiology and cardiac surgery programs to its list of the “World’s Best Specialized Hospitals,” and Healthgrades recognized UAB as one of “America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery.” The institute holds “Gold” certification from the International Cardio-Oncology Society, and its cardiac intensive care, cardiothoracic surgery, cardiopulmonary critical care, heart and lung transplant, and cardiac care units earned an American Association of Critical-Care Nurses “Silver Beacon Award for Excellence.” Physicians and researchers have recently participated in multicenter studies focused on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and other complex cardiovascular conditions.
UC Health (Cincinnati). UC Health’s department of heart and vascular care at University of Cincinnati Medical Center pairs 37 physicians with University of Cincinnati College of Medicine researchers. The physicians work across heart failure, general and interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, cardiac surgery, structural heart and vascular surgery. In 2025, its cardiac surgery team performed the world’s first use of regenerative amniotic membrane to resolve a persistent infection in a patient with a ventricular assist device. That same year, two UC Health cardiac surgeons implanted a totally tissue-engineered tricuspid valve in an adult, making UC Health the first adult center in Ohio to do so, and it is one of 14 U.S. centers in the FDA investigational device exemption trial for the prosthesis. In August 2025, the program performed its 500th Watchman left atrial appendage implant, after the program grew about 30% over two years. In February 2026, UC Health opened a hybrid operating room that combines an operating room, a cath lab and a vascular suite for procedures that pair open surgery with real-time advanced imaging. The program holds The Joint Commission’s advanced heart failure accreditation and the American Heart Association’s “Heart Failure Gold Plus” award with “Target: Heart Failure Optimal” recognition. Newsweek named it among “America’s Best Hospitals for Specialized Cardiac Care” in 2025.
UC San Diego Health. UC San Diego Health ranks No. 15 in the nation for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report for 2026-27, and is ranked No. 1 in San Diego. Its heart transplant program performed 92 transplants in 2024, the fifth-highest volume in the country, and its ventricular assist device program holds advanced certification from The Joint Commission. The health system’s extracorporeal membrane oxygenation program has earned the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization’s “Gold Award for Excellence in Life Support,” and it is one of a few California medical centers designated a center of excellence by the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association. UC San Diego’s division of cardiovascular medicine receives more than $30 million in federal research support each year, and its faculty and fellows publish more than 150 papers annually. Specialized programs cover adult congenital heart disease, cardiac amyloid disease, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension and women’s cardiovascular health, and all imaging results are reviewed by both cardiology and radiology specialists. In 2023, the American Heart Association gave UC San Diego Health its “Innovator Award” for an electronic health program that uses a data-driven, team-based approach to lowering patients’ cholesterol. The health system’s door-to-balloon time for the most severe heart attacks is under 60 minutes, and its cardiac rehabilitation and wellness program is certified by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation.
UCI Health–Orange (Calif.). UCI Health–Orange’s cardiology program has grown since 2019 from 10 cardiologists, one cardiac surgeon and two advanced practice providers to 26 cardiologists, four cardiac surgeons and nine advanced practice providers, and it manages the highest case mix index in the region. Its advanced heart failure program has held The Joint Commission and American Heart Association’s advanced heart failure certification since 2008, most recently renewed in April 2024 with no findings. It was also the first in Orange County to earn DNV accreditation for its ventricular assist device program. Since December 2022, UCI Health has been the only transcatheter aortic valve replacement benchmark site in Orange County and one of 45 nationwide, and its structural heart team also offers transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement with the FDA-approved Evoque device. Over the past year or so, the program’s 30-day readmission rates were 15.4% for heart failure and 7.29% for acute myocardial infarction, below benchmarks of 16.4% and 9.1%, and its observed-to-expected inpatient mortality ratio for cardiology was 0.74, against a benchmark below 0.87. The program has treated 100% of ST-elevation heart attack patients with percutaneous coronary intervention within 90 minutes for several consecutive years, and it has had no emergency bypass surgeries after percutaneous coronary intervention in five years or after transcatheter aortic valve replacement in three years. Department investigators are involved in National Institutes of Health grants totaling $6.1 million, hold $1.6 million in industry-funded grants and run 27 active industry-sponsored clinical trials. The cardiovascular ICU earned the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ “Beacon Award for Excellence” in 2025, and a $7.5 million gift from Joe C. Wen and his family supports the program’s patient care, research and physician training.
UCLA Health (Los Angeles). UCLA Health ranks No. 22 in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery on U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 list and provides cardiac care at more than 20 locations across Southern California and the Central Coast. Its heart transplant program has performed more than 2,000 adult and more than 300 pediatric heart transplants, and UCLA reports that 5% of its adult transplant patients experience donor heart rejection, compared with a national average of 25%. Surgeons at the UCLA Aortic Center were the first on the West Coast to perform endovascular aortic aneurysm repair and have since completed more than 2,200 endovascular aortic repairs. The Ahmanson/UCLA Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center, which UCLA describes as the first of its kind in the U.S., is accredited as a comprehensive care center by the Adult Congenital Heart Association. The Cardiac Arrhythmia Center offers cardiac sympathetic denervation for patients whose rhythm disorders don’t respond to medication, and the cardiac surgery team performs minimally invasive and robotic heart valve surgery. In August 2026, the cardiology division at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center earned the 2026 “Chest Pain-MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award,” along with “Heart Failure Gold Plus” and “Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll” recognitions from the American Heart Association. In September 2026, UCLA researchers reported engineering “triple-threat” immune cells designed to fight the plaque buildup responsible for heart attacks and strokes.
UCSF Health (San Francisco). UCSF Health cardiologists work alongside specialty programs in cardiac surgery, electrophysiology, interventional cardiology and heart failure, as well as specialists in cardio-oncology and immunology, cardiovascular genetics, congenital heart disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, myocarditis and pulmonary hypertension. UCSF researchers study cardiovascular disease at all of its campuses, examining everything from the causes of heart disease to which new drugs and devices are most likely to benefit patients. The cardiology fellowship routinely receives more than 400 applications each year for about six positions. In March 2026, UCSF Health moved its first patient from a total artificial heart to a heart transplant. Shortly afterwards, in May 2026, UCSF hosted PlaySafe, a large-scale cardiac screening event for youth athletes staffed by more than 150 volunteers, cardiologists and sports medicine specialists. U.S. News & World Report ranks UCSF Health No. 21 in the nation for heart and vascular surgery for 2026-27, and recognizes it for aortic aneurysm repair, bypass surgery, heart attack care and heart failure care.
UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital (Gainesville, Fla.). UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital ranks No. 17 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings, making it the top-ranked such program in Florida. Its UF Health Congenital Heart Center performs nearly 300 congenital heart surgeries a year, ranging from basic repairs to high-risk operations such as the Norwood procedure. The center offers heart and lung transplantation and mechanical circulatory support with devices including the Berlin Heart, HeartWare and SynCardia systems. Its services also include interventional and diagnostic catheterization, electrophysiology, fetal cardiology and 3D noninvasive imaging, as well as care for adults with congenital heart disease and arrhythmias. In October 2026, the center’s single ventricle clinic partnered with UF Health’s department of psychiatry to add specialized neurobehavioral health services. Florida children who receive heart transplants will also have access to free medication adherence support over the next two years through a $1.67 million National Institutes of Health “Small Business Innovation Research” award to the video adherence platform Scene Health, an effort aimed at reducing organ rejection. The center trains future specialists through its pediatric cardiology fellowship and treats families who travel from across the state, the country and the world.
UMass Memorial Health (Worcester, Mass.). UMass Memorial Medical Center’s Heart and Vascular Center in Worcester treats more than 40,000 patients annually and, as the clinical partner of UMass Chan Medical School, trains 19 general cardiology fellows along with interventional, electrophysiology, structural heart and research fellows. The center operates the only ventricular assist device program in Central Massachusetts, which holds The Joint Commission’s “Gold Seal of Approval,” and its cardiac surgery program holds a 3-star Society of Thoracic Surgeons rating in coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Since launching pulsed field ablation in February 2024, the arrhythmia program has grown to approximately 650 ablations annually and began offering Watchman implants and ablations in a single visit in fall 2025. The center’s transcatheter aortic valve replacement program, certified by the American College of Cardiology, performs approximately 225 procedures annually and has completed nearly 1,500 cases to date. The division of vascular and endovascular surgery and the vascular lab perform more than 3,000 procedures and 18,000 noninvasive vascular studies each year, and the “Code Rupture Program” for abdominal aortic aneurysms has cut mortality for those patients in half. In 2024, the center partnered with Google Cloud to use AI and machine learning to identify patients who could benefit from advanced cardiometabolic therapies. The department receives about $21.7 million in National Institutes of Health grants and $5.1 million in industry grants, and the program earned three Healthgrades cardiac recognitions in 2025, including “America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Coronary Intervention Award.”
UNC Health (Chapel Hill, N.C.). UNC Health’s heart and vascular network includes 18 hospitals delivering cardiovascular care, and served patients from all 100 North Carolina counties in fiscal 2025. The program includes more than 300 heart and vascular providers and approximately 85 physician clinic locations. This statewide network connects community-based care with advanced expertise at flagship facilities such as UNC Hospitals and UNC Rex Hospital in Raleigh, N.C., helping patients access services close to home while supporting coordinated referrals for more complex treatment. Services span preventive screening and diagnostic testing through interventional cardiology, vascular disease treatment, arrhythmia management, heart valve surgery, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, and a heart transplant program. Multidisciplinary teams bring together cardiologists, interventional specialists, cardiothoracic surgeons, nurses, dietitians and cardiac rehabilitation experts to develop personalized treatment plans. As part of an academic health system, patients also have access to cardiovascular research and clinical trials that bring innovative therapies into clinical practice. In August 2026, UNC Health interventional cardiologists performed North Carolina’s first commercial fully percutaneous minimally invasive transcatheter mitral valve replacement at UNC Hospitals.
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s Heart Institute cares for more than 18,000 patients with congenital and acquired heart disease each year, with a team of more than 170 physicians, nurses and therapists, and it has treated patients from 22 countries. The cardiothoracic surgery program’s mortality rate is 1.5%, compared with a national average of 3.4% for pediatric heart programs, according to Society of Thoracic Surgeons data, and the hospital reports it is tied with one other program for the nation’s lowest four-year surgical death rate. Its pediatric heart and lung transplant program has performed more heart-lung transplants in children than any other U.S. center and more than 450 pediatric organ transplants, including more than 360 heart transplants. UPMC Children’s has used ventricular assist devices for children with heart failure for more than 30 years and is an Extracorporeal Life Support Organization “Platinum” center of excellence. The institute is home to the Da Silva Center for Ebstein’s Anomaly, where the creator of the cone procedure operates on patients from around the world. Its adult congenital heart disease program is one of 50 nationwide accredited by the Adult Congenital Heart Association, and researchers in the Pediatric Institute for Heart Regeneration and Therapeutics are studying how to make heart muscle cells replicate so the heart can heal itself. UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh is No. 13 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery per U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Children’s Hospitals” annual list.
UT Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas). UT Southwestern Medical Center ranks No. 13 in the nation and No. 1 in Dallas-Fort Worth for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings, and it is one of 24 hospitals nationwide certified as a comprehensive cardiac center by The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association. In March 2026, its heart transplant program marked its 1,000th heart transplant since 1988, and the program’s one-, five- and 10-year survival rates consistently exceed national averages. In April 2026, a UT Southwestern-led study published in JAMA Cardiology found that food-as-medicine strategies, including medically tailored meals and fresh produce boxes, were feasible for patients recovering from heart failure and improved their quality of life. In October 2026, UT Southwestern researchers published findings in Science Advances identifying blood proteins that help explain how social and economic disadvantages increase heart failure risk. The division of cardiology’s basic research spans 11 laboratories in about 30,000 square feet of the Simmons Biomedical Research Building, with an emphasis on the biology of cardiac muscle cells, and the division trains 45 fellows. UT Southwestern’s cardiovascular research legacy includes the 1985 “Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine” for research into cholesterol metabolism that led to the development of statin drugs, as well as the landmark Dallas Heart Study on cardiovascular risk factors. General cardiologists see patients at six locations across multiple campuses.
UVA Health (Charlottesville, Va.). The UVA Health Heart and Vascular Institute performs more than 1,350 cardiac surgery procedures annually, among the highest volumes in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic, with about 85 physicians and 96 cardiovascular beds, including 38 cardiovascular ICU beds. Its pediatric services include the largest fetal heart program in Virginia, and UVA Health Children’s is a founding partner of the Virginia Congenital Cardiac Collaborative with Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk, Va.. Researchers use AI to analyze coronary CT angiography images for high-risk plaque characteristics, while another physician is applying AI and machine learning to advanced cardiac imaging to improve diagnostic accuracy. The system’s physicians have also implemented the Intra-Operative Positioning System, a GPS-like navigation technology that reduces reliance on fluoroscopy and lowers radiation exposure during complex endovascular procedures. The institute is preparing to add robotic-assisted valve surgery and participates in the National Institutes of Health’s Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network. U.S. News & World Report rated four of UVA’s heart treatment services as “high performing,” and the program earned a 2023 “Platinum Level” center of excellence award from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization, with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation survival exceeding the organization’s benchmark. The department reports $9.2 million in combined research funding and in 2025 earned the American Heart Association’s “Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure Gold Plus” award for the 12th consecutive year.
UW Health (Madison, Wis.). UW Health’s division of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health is a national leader in prevention, innovation and advanced cardiovascular care. Founded in 1964, its preventive cardiology program was the first of its kind at a U.S. academic medical center and remains a model for integrating lipid management, exercise science, nutrition and early detection of atherosclerosis. The division is home to one of only 17 American Heart Association–certified comprehensive hypertension centers and anchors nationally recognized programs in cardiac, peripheral arterial disease and atrial fibrillation rehabilitation. UW Health is also internationally known for its heart failure and transplant programs, pioneering techniques such as lateral thoracotomy ventricular assist device implantation, total artificial heart therapy and donation after circulatory death heart transplantation. Specialized programs in inherited arrhythmias, sudden cardiac death prevention and advanced electrophysiology provide highly personalized care using leading-edge therapies such as pulsed field ablation and stereotactic body radiation therapy for ventricular tachycardia. Strong integration of clinical care and research allows patients access to early- and late-stage regenerative medicine, gene therapy and heart failure trials.
UW Medicine (Seattle). UW Medicine Heart Institute cares for adults with all types of heart disease, from coronary and valve disease to rhythm disorders, heart failure and congenital conditions. Patients come from Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. The Heart Institute performed the region’s first heart transplant in 1985 and is the largest transplant program in the Pacific Northwest and the only active one in Washington state. The Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Clinic is a Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association center of excellence. The adult congenital heart disease program, a collaboration with Seattle Children’s, was among the first five Adult Congenital Heart Association–accredited comprehensive care centers in the country. The cardio-oncology program is an International Cardio-Oncology Society “Gold” center of excellence. University of Washington Medical Center holds the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization’s “Platinum Award for ECMO,” the only platinum designation in Washington, and is a Mitral Foundation mitral valve repair reference center. They are a founding member of American Ross Consortium of high-volume cardiac centers that study and improve outcomes of the ross procedure for adults with aortic valve disease. Interventional and structural heart specialists perform complex and high-risk coronary interventions, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, and transcatheter mitral and tricuspid repair. Cardiac surgeons offer valve repair and replacement as well as coronary bypass and thoracic aortic surgery. Advanced heart failure care spans medical therapy, left ventricular assist devices and transplant.
University of Chicago Medicine. UChicago Medicine highly specialized cardiovascular care program employs a nationally recognized team of cardiologists, cardiac surgeons and vascular specialists focused on treating the most complex and high-risk conditions. Ranked No. 37 nationally for cardiology, heart and vascular care by U.S. News & World Report for 2026–27, the program is distinguished for offering advanced therapies not widely available, including bloodless heart surgery, robotic cardiac procedures and complex transplant care. In 2018, UChicago Medicine performed the world’s first back-to-back triple-organ transplants involving the heart, liver and kidney, cementing its status as a leader in advanced heart failure and transplantation. As the busiest heart transplant program in Illinois, the health system performs transplants up to 75% faster than the national average. It has also completed more than 2,000 successful robotic heart procedures, which promote shorter hospital stays and faster recovery. The program integrates cutting-edge clinical care with a strong research enterprise, supported by National Institutes of Health-funded physician-scientists and clinical trials advancing cardiovascular genetics, arrhythmias, heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. Multidisciplinary initiatives such as its center for arrhythmia care, as well as the newly established Heart and Vascular Institute, are redefining care delivery through image-guided technologies and collaborative, disease-focused models.
The University of Kansas Health System (Kansas City). The University of Kansas Hospital ranks No. 23 in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery and No. 1 in Kansas and the Kansas City area, according to U.S. News & World Report. It was the first hospital in the nation to receive comprehensive cardiac center certification from The Joint Commission, and it is the only hospital in Kansas that performs heart transplant surgery. Its heart failure and transplant program has earned national recognition through the American Heart Association’s “Get With The Guidelines” program. As part of an academic medical center, the hospital’s heart team offers advanced heart failure care, electrophysiology, interventional cardiology, heart valve treatment, cardio-oncology, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy care and congenital heart disease care, along with access to clinical trials. Its services extend from risk reduction and integrative medicine to cardiac rehabilitation, women’s heart health and second opinions. In September 2026, the University of Kansas Medical Center hosted KU Midwest Cardiovascular Innovations, an annual regional cardiology conference focused on AI in cardiac imaging, electrophysiology, heart failure strategies and transcatheter therapies.
University of Miami Health System. University of Miami Health System ranks No. 49 in the nation for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings, and its UHealth Cardiac & Vascular Center is the highest-ranked cardiovascular program in South Florida. The center recently experienced unprecedented growth, with cardiovascular inpatient volume rising 40%, outpatient clinic visits growing 30%, cardiac CT and MRI imaging growing 70%, and cardiac catheterizations increasing 25%. UHealth was among the first U.S. institutions to offer renal denervation for resistant hypertension, drug-coated balloon angioplasty, pulsed field ablation for atrial fibrillation and extravascular implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation. Its structural heart program, which ranks among the top 10% nationally for quality and outcomes, performed South Florida’s first same-day discharge transcatheter aortic valve replacement. Its transcatheter aortic valve replacement patients have near-zero 30-day mortality, a 30-day readmission rate below 1% and an average length of stay under 24 hours. The center’s advanced imaging program uses AI-enhanced coronary and plaque analysis, fractional flow reserve CT, and advanced valve modeling to plan complex interventions and surgeries. UHealth supports a $30 million cardiovascular research portfolio that includes National Institutes of Health-funded translational science and clinical trials, and as South Florida’s only academic health system, it trains more than 40 cardiovascular fellows after expanding its fellowship programs by 30%.
University of Utah Health (Salt Lake City). University of Utah Health’s “Advanced Heart Failure, Heart Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support Program” performed a record 38 heart transplants in 2025, the most in its history. The program draws patients from 27 states, and more than 70% of its advanced heart failure patients live more than 200 miles from Salt Lake City. To reach them, it relies on a shared-care model with community partners, four community heart failure clinics, two outreach clinics and a redesigned intake process that has increased advanced heart failure referrals by more than 60%; ventricular assist device and transplant referrals alone grew 40% in 2025. University of Utah Health is one of six Veterans Affairs-contracted heart transplant centers in the U.S. and the top enrolling site in the “INNOVATE BrioVAD” clinical trial. At the 2026 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation annual meeting, the team presented research showing that proactive guidelines for replacing left ventricular assist device equipment reduced urgent equipment interventions by 22% and controller-related failures by 61%. In 2025, the program was one of 10 nationwide selected for the American Heart Association’s “ATTR-CM Discovery Initiative” on cardiac amyloidosis, and its hypertrophic cardiomyopathy program received an “Innovator Award.” Its left ventricular assist device program also earned DNV certification with zero nonconformities in its 2025 survey, and its extracorporeal membrane oxygenation program holds the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization’s “Silver Center of Excellence” designation.
VCU Health (Richmond, Va.). VCU Health ranks No. 1 in Virginia and No. 29 in the nation for cardiology in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 rankings. Its Pauley Heart Center was established in 1991 and renamed in 2006 after a $5 million gift from Stan and Dorothy Pauley and the Pauley Family Foundation, and since 2018 it has grown from four to 10 locations and specialties across Central Virginia. Pauley’s research funding rose more than 50% in five years, from $7.2 million in fiscal 2020 to $11.2 million in fiscal 2025. In 2023, the center received VCU’s first American Heart Association Strategically Funded Research Network grant, a $15 million multicenter award to study the effects of psychosocial stress on cardiovascular disease. The center runs Virginia’s only cardiac amyloidosis clinic and the state’s only cardio-oncology program certified as a “Gold Center of Excellence” by the International Cardio-Oncology Society. Its surgeons performed the first successful total artificial heart transplant on the East Coast in 2006, and its electrophysiology team was among the first three U.S. hospitals to perform catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation, in 1998. A new outpatient heart failure management program, supported by the Commonwealth of Virginia, cut heart failure appointment no-show rates from 34% to 16% over eight months in 2025.
Vanderbilt Health (Nashville, Tenn.). Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute and the new Golisano Pediatric Heart Institute at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt are driving the future of heart care through global leadership in heart transplantation, breakthrough innovation and nationally recognized clinical excellence. The flagship adult and pediatric cardiovascular programs help establish Vanderbilt Health as a leading destination for patients with the most complex heart and vascular conditions, performing 210 heart transplants in 2025 and surpassing 2,000 total heart transplants. The program continues to shape the future of heart care through pioneering innovations in next-generation donor heart preservation, including REUP and taNRP, early adoption of pulsed field ablation and among the nation’s first implantations of the Harmony M3 device. It is home to one of the nation’s most sophisticated ventricular assist device programs, providing advanced treatment options for patients with end-stage heart failure. Last year 309,105 patient visits were provided across Vanderbilt Health’s adult and pediatric cardiovascular programs. The breadth and quality of care are reflected in nationally ranked pediatric cardiology and heart surgery services at Monroe Carell Children’s Hospital and Vanderbilt University Hospital’s 2026 “Gold Performance Achievement Award from American College of Cardiology.” The establishment of Golisano Pediatric Heart Institute is accelerating innovation, research and clinical excellence while expanding access to highly specialized pediatric heart care.
Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (Tacoma, Wash.). With cardiac surgery outcomes in the nation’s top 10%, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health is recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the No. 1 provider of cardiology, heart, and vascular surgery in Washington state. As a regional and national leader in advanced cardiovascular care, the program has earned the highest 3-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons for isolated coronary artery bypass grafting, aortic valve replacement with coronary artery bypass graft, and mitral valve repair or replacement. It also holds the “Get With The Guidelines Gold Plus” distinction from the American Heart Association for excellence in treating heart failure. Innovation is a driving force at the system. It was among the first in the Pacific Northwest to introduce echocardiography and transcarotid artery revascularization, utilizing minimally invasive approaches and state-of-the-art imaging. More recently, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health became one of the first centers in the nation to combine extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, successfully saving the life of a critically-ill patient. It continues to serve as a destination for interventional cardiology, complex aortic disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, advanced ablation, and cardio-oncology. Virginia Mason Franciscan Health is a member of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health.
WVU Medicine (Morgantown, W.Va.). The WVU Heart and Vascular Institute has grown over the past decade from a regional program into a $2.5 billion enterprise with more than 250 providers and more than 500,000 patient visits annually. The institute serves all 55 counties in West Virginia and extends into a five-state region through 25 hospitals and more than 30 clinical locations, offering heart transplantation, mechanical circulatory support, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and structural heart therapies. The program holds the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ highest 3-star rating in five adult cardiac surgery categories: coronary artery bypass grafting, mitral valve surgery, aortic valve surgery, combined mitral valve and bypass surgery, and multiprocedure operations. Institute physicians developed robotic aortic valve replacement and have performed multiple world firsts in robotic cardiac surgery. The institute is an Extracorporeal Life Support Organization “Platinum Level Center of Excellence” and has been named a Society for Vascular Surgery “Vascular Quality Initiative” top 3-star center for vascular surgery outcomes for six years. A provider and coding documentation improvement program launched in July 2025 generated approximately $2 million in return on investment during its first six months by reviewing six diagnosis-related groups, reducing undercoding and claim denials.
Wellstar Health System (Marietta, Ga.). With 500,000 heart patient visits and 40,000 new heart patients each year, Wellstar is a national leader in comprehensive heart care. Last year, the academic health system performed over 12,000 cardiac and vascular surgeries, percutaneous coronary interventions, and electrophysiology and structural heart procedures through 10 of its adult and children’s hospitals and 26 outpatient sites. A leader in life-saving heart care, Wellstar has one of Georgia’s largest networks of hospitals designated as level 1 and level 2 emergency cardiac care centers by the Department of Public Health. Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center is one of the nation’s top four programs for left ventricular assist device implants among destination therapy medical centers. It is fourth in the U.S. and first in Georgia to receive comprehensive cardiac care center certification from The Joint Commission and American Heart Association. It achieved a rare milestone in cardiac care, with the highest possible 3-star rating by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in five of six categories: coronary artery bypass grafting, aortic valve replacement, combined coronary artery bypass grafting and aortic valve replacement procedures, mitral valve repair and replacement, and multi-procedural cardiac surgery, placing it among North America’s elite cardiac surgery programs and making it the only program in Georgia to receive this distinction. The site is named a center of excellence by the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association, cementing Wellstar among the leading Southeast locations offering hypertrophic cardiomyopathy services.
White Plains (N.Y.) Hospital. White Plains Hospital, a member of New York City-based Montefiore Health System since 2015, serves as the system’s tertiary hub for advanced care in the Hudson Valley, with a cardiac services program spanning cardiac surgery, structural heart, electrophysiology and interventional cardiology. In late 2025, the hospital launched a comprehensive heart failure program with its first dedicated advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologist, coordinating with Montefiore Einstein’s Moses Campus for patients who need left ventricular assist devices or heart transplantation. The structural heart program, launched in 2023 with transcatheter aortic valve replacement and patent foramen ovale closure, added catheter-based edge-to-edge repair for mitral and tricuspid valve disease in 2026. The hospital also became the first in Westchester to perform renal denervation for uncontrolled high blood pressure and has added more than 10 cardiologists, including eight at its Hudson Valley Cardiovascular Group location in Yorktown Heights. In 2025, The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association designated White Plains Hospital a comprehensive heart attack center. Healthgrades named the hospital among “America’s 100 Best for Cardiac Care” in 2026 and placed it in the top 5% nationally for coronary interventional procedures, and the hospital earned a fifth consecutive 5-star CMS rating in 2026. A 10-story, 475,000-square-foot expansion slated to open in 2028 will increase the hospital’s licensed inpatient beds from 292 to 436.
Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health. Yale New Haven Health Heart and Vascular Center is ranked No. 1 in New Haven Metro and No. 2 in the state for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery by U.S. News & World Report for 2026-27. The center draws on 108 Yale Medicine cardiovascular clinical faculty, including 10 cardiac surgeons and 13 vascular surgeons. Yale New Haven Hospital is the only hospital in New England offering totally endoscopic robotic coronary artery bypass grafting, and the center performed the first robotic multi-arterial total arterial coronary artery bypass grafting procedure in the Northeast. The health system was the first in Connecticut to offer Flyrcado, a newly FDA-approved positron emission tomography imaging agent that’s the first new cardiac perfusion tracer in nearly 30 years. It is also the only health system in Connecticut certified by the American College of Cardiology for transcatheter valve replacement procedures, which are offered at Bridgeport, Conn. and Yale New Haven hospitals. Yale New Haven Hospital was the first in Connecticut recognized as a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy center of excellence by the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association, and its adult congenital heart program, the first integrated program of its kind in the state, is accredited by the Adult Congenital Heart Association. The center also runs a complex and high-risk interventional procedures and chronic total occlusion program for patients who are not candidates for traditional revascularization, along with a cardiac rehabilitation program offered at six locations. Yale Cardiovascular Medicine holds dozens of active grants totaling nearly $245 million.
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