Lehigh Valley Heart Institute announced it is formalizing a relationship with Penn Medicine, one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers, to ensure the highest level of care coordination for patients served by Lehigh Valley Health Network requiring a heart transplant.

Lehigh Valley Heart Institute treats about 90 percent of heart failure patients in the Lehigh Valley who choose the Institute for their care, including those with advanced heart conditions, and prides itself on providing the highest quality care to all of its patients. Those requiring heart transplants are referred to Penn Medicine, whose teams are equipped to treat the most complex cases. Penn Medicine has one of the largest heart transplant programs in the country - performing nearly 1,500 heart transplantations since 1987.

“When someone requires the most complex level of care, Lehigh Valley Heart Institute makes sure that our patients are in the right hands, for the best treatment,” said Ronald Freudenberger, MD, MBA, Physician in Chief, Lehigh Valley Heart Institute.

“As affiliate partners, Lehigh Valley Heart Institute and Penn Medicine recognize patients and their families may prefer to stay close to home for their care. That’s one of the benefits of this relationship - working jointly to ensure more advanced care is available for heart transplant patients when they need it. This formalized relationship will allow seamless collaboration with a top transplant center when one is needed.”

Heart failure is a condition where the heart muscle cannot pump as well as it should. This can leave a patient feeling short of breath and fatigued, and cause swelling in legs and ankles. Heart failure can be caused by many conditions, including coronary artery disease, high blood pressure or diabetes.

Lehigh Valley Heart Institute provides treatments for patients with complex cases of heart disease that many hospitals turn away. The Heart Institute has the region’s largest team of board-certified, advanced heart failure specialists and offers the latest heart support devices to care for patients with complex heart disease. These include mechanical circulatory support devices, such as ventricular assist devices, which are an effective heart failure treatment. They help the heart pump blood to the rest of the body. In some cases of severe heart failure, a heart transplant may be the best option LVHN.org/hearttransplant. The relationship with Penn Medicine not only provides access to advanced transplant care through the Penn Transplant Institute, but diagnostic testing, breakthrough therapies and clinical trials.

“Penn Medicine is proud to support Lehigh Valley Health Network in delivering advanced cardiac care - whether that’s providing heart failure care close to home, or a heart transplant in Philadelphia,” said Michael A. Acker, MD, Director of the Penn Medicine Heart and Vascular Center and Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “Our health systems are committed to delivering exceptional, personalized and convenient care for patients across the region, and we will deliver the best plan of care for patients through a coordinated, collaborative approach.”