Heart Care Services

A Cardiologist is a physician that has undergone cardiovascular disease fellowship training and can treat disorders of the heart. CHI Health is home to highly skilled cardiologists that provide high-quality patient-centered care for your heart. With Heart Institute locations across the state, it's easy to find a heart doctor near you. 

Our general cardiology services at the CHI Health Heart Institute include preventive cardiology, sophisticated diagnostic and treatment services and referral to specialized cardiologists. General cardiologists work with the cardiovascular sub-specialists (experts who deal with a particular area of the heart) to offer the best treatment options for each person, no matter what heart disorder you may have.

This specialty involves the surgical treatment of conditions which affect the heart or blood vessels connected to your heart. Also called cardiovascular surgeons or heart surgeons, these specialists improve heart function by surgically correcting problems such as blockages, faulty valves and abnormal heart rhythms. Newer minimally invasive techniques make it possible to repair some heart issues without surgery. 

CHI Health Cardiac Rehabilitation is a specialized exercise program that enables heart patients and high risk individuals to achieve and maintain optimal states of health. This program is for the individual with heart disease who has been treated medically or surgically.

The program is designed to provide progressive exercise and education with medical supervision. Cardiac Rehabilitation’s primary goal is to enable the individual to achieve a personal level of optimal physical and psychological health.

Participation

Participation is dependent on physician referral. Each cardiac rehabilitation session report will be in your electronic medical record for your provider's review.  Providers are also informed any time a significant medical issue or symptoms are noted.

Insurance Coverage

Most major insurance companies, as well as Medicare and Medicaid, cover all or part of the cost for participants who qualify. Because all policies vary, patients are encouraged to check with their insurance company for specific coverage.

Program Phases

Cardiac Rehabilitation occurs in two phases, accommodating the needs of all patients experiencing heart problems at any level.

Phase 1: Inpatient Program

Phase 1 is designed for hospitalized individuals who have experienced a heart attack (myocardial infarction), cardiac surgery/procedure, heart failure or other heart problems. This phase includes light exercise for the participant, as well as education for both the patient and family.

Phase 2: Outpatient Program

Phase 2 is a 12-week program generally beginning after discharge from the hospital or when safely determined by a doctor. This consists of structured, individualized exercise to increase endurance early in recovery as well as education to assist he patient in making life style changes and learning more about their heart disease and treatment. Heart rate, heart rhythm and blood pressure are (constantly-remove constantly) monitored by a registered nurse or exercise physiologist. The program includes exercise sessions three times a week for about an hour. Sessions involve a warm up period, aerobic type exercise (performed on a treadmill, bicycle and arm ergometer) and end with a cool down period.

Sessions are conducted at the hospital, offering the opportunity to safely and confidently increase individual activity levels through the structure and guidance of a trained personal cardiac rehabilitation professional. The sessions serve as a source of information and support to you and your family as you recover and heal from your cardiac condition.  Cardiac Rehabilitation is offered at all CHI Health hospitals in metro Omaha and Papillion, St Elizabeth in Lincoln, Kearney, Grand Island, Nebraska City, Plainview and Schyuler in Nebraska and Mercy Council Bluffs, Corning and Missouri Valley, in Iowa. 

Electrophysiology (EP), or heart rhythm management, is the study, diagnosis, and treatment of the abnormalities (arrhythmias) of the electrical conduction of the heart. An electrophysiologist is a cardiologist who specializes in the diagnosis and treatments these abnormalities. The electrophysiologists at the CHI Health Clinic Heart Institute specialize in treating arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, ventricular tachycardia and many others with the latest technology, procedures and devices. They work collaboratively with our general cardiologists and interventional cardiologists as well as cardiovascular surgeons to provide high-quality patient centered care for a wide variety of conditions including atrial fibrillation.

Conditions

• Arrhythmia
• Atrial Fibrillation
• Atrial Flutter
• Ventricular Fibrillation
• Ventricular Tachycardia
• Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome

Treatments

• Atrial Fibrillation Ablation
• Device Interrogation
• Electrical Cardioversion
• Monitoring
• Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (ICD)
• Pacemaker Implantation

If you’re experiencing heart failure symptoms (such as difficulty breathing, fatigue or swelling of your legs), time is on your mind. It’s on ours, too. Nearly 4 decades of innovation have resulted in proven therapies for heart failure, which affects one in five adults age 50 and older over their lifetime.

The good news? Early diagnosis, treatment and lifestyle changes can mean a second chance for a longer, more fulfilling life. CHI Health Clinic Heart Institute's comprehensive heart failure program and team of experts offer highly specialized, proven treatments to help patients with heart failure get back to the life they love.

Heart Failure Program Highlights

• Guidelines Directed Medical Therapy Clinic
• Advanced Heart Failure Clinic
• Inherited Cardiomyopathies Clinic
• Amyloid Cardiomyopathy Clinic
• Inflammatory Cardiomyopathies Clinic
• Remote Hemodynamic Monitoring Clinic
• Outpatient Diuretic Infusion Clinic
• Cardio-Oncology Clinic

The Structural Heart Program is a collaborative effort involving interventional cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons from the CHI Health Heart & Vascular Institute working together to provide innovative heart treatment solutions and the best possible outcomes for our patients with even the most complex structural heart diseases.

Conditions

• Aortic Stenosis
• Atrial Fibrillation
• Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)
• Coarctation of the Aorta
• Coronary Artery Chronic Total Occlusion
• HCM (Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy)
• Mitral Valve Regurgitation
• Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO)
• Septal Defects
• Valve Leaks (Paravalvular)

Treatments & Procedures

• Alcohol Septal Ablation
• Angioplasty and Coronary Stenting
• Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) Repair
• Balloon Valvuloplasty
• Cardiac Catheterization
• Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery
• Heart Valve Surgery
• Left Atrial Appendage Closure
• VAD/LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device)
• Mitral Valve Regurgitation Treatment
• Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) Repair
• Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI)
• TAVR (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement)

Your vascular system is a complex expressway of veins and arteries in your body. Vascular surgery may be needed when blocked or hardened arteries lead to vascular disease. Vascular disease can lead to serious side effects such as a stroke. Millions of Americans are unaware that they are at risk of a disability or premature death due to vascular disease. Some vascular disease sufferers experience symptoms such as pain when walking while half affected experience no symptoms at all.

Individuals 55 years of age or older with cardiovascular risk factors such as a history of hypertension, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol, or known cardiovascular disease may benefit from preventive screening for vascular disease.

CHI Health’s vascular program offers a range of preventive screenings and vascular surgery options with providers that are experienced in vascular procedures.