New Haven, Conn.-based Yale University School of Medicine is piloting a clinic that offers mental health services inside its cardiology clinic, Medscape reported March 16.
In February 2025, Yale started the Yale Medicine Heart and Vascular Psychology and Wellbeing Clinic. The clinic is co-located within the ambulatory cardiology setting. When a cardiologist has a patient with emotional distress, they refer the patient to the well-being clinic. The well-being team then schedules an intake with the patient and addresses their mental health needs.
Depression, anxiety and chronic stress are common among patients with coronary artery disease, heart failure and arrhythmias. Decades of evidence indicate mental health care can help improve outcomes for heart patients, according to the report, yet few centers integrate mental health care with cardiac care.
A study, published in Journal of the American Heart Association, found patients with heart failure or coronary artery disease who were treated for both their cardiac condition and anxiety or depression were 75% less likely to be rehospitalized, 74% less likely to visit an emergency department and 66% less likely to die.
