At the heart of the matter

The multidisciplinary heart care team at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center - Temple is making headlines!

Panda Express® associates met kids like Kutter Shed (and his little sister) who benefited from the physical and occupational therapy suite.

Among its recent accolades, Baylor Scott & White Medical Center - Temple was ranked among the Top 50 Cardiovascular Hospitals by Fortune and PINC AI for 2023. Programs in the Top 50 “operated at lower cost and had better outcomes, recording significantly higher inpatient survival rates, fewer patients with complications and lower readmission rates.”

Advanced Heart Failure Outpatient Infusion Clinic

About 5.7 million people in the US live with heart failure (HF), a chronic, progressive condition in which the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. HF is one of the leading causes of death, hospitalization and healthcare expenditures in the nation.

For many living with HF, recurring hospitalizations are a fact of life. To help patients manage their condition without the need to be admitted through the emergency room, Baylor Scott & White Medical Center - Temple has opened a heart failure infusion clinic operating on an outpatient basis.

The infusions can help strengthen heart muscle contractions, increase cardiac output, regulate heart rate, decrease fluid retention and/or improve iron deficiency. The infusion clinic has already helped reduce readmissions among HF patients by more than 5 percent and reduced the length of stay for many patients who were admitted.

100 Heart Transplants

In late 2022, the heart transplant team at our Temple campus also celebrated completing 100 successful heart transplants since the program began in 2010. In 2023, the team has already transplanted eight hearts and nine Left Ventricle Assistance Devices, including three heart transplants within a single weekend.

The heart transplant program’s medical director, Jaime Hernandez-Montfort, MD, MPH, FACP, FACC, FHFSA, said the continued growth is driven by communication between the multidisciplinary team.

“The nurses, coordinators, perfusion, anesthesia, cardiologists, cardiac surgeons—everyone on the team demonstrates the passion that is needed to execute our vision and continue to make historical strides for these patients,” Dr. Hernandez-Montfort said. “We are incredibly proud of our team.”