Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento’s Heart Failure Clinic is part of the Sutter Heart Specialty and Heart Transplant Services Department. The Sutter Heart Failure Clinic offers advanced treatments for acute and chronic heart failure ranging from medication management, device therapy, to transplantation.

The heart failure clinic provides a full range of services including but not limited to:

• intensive education
• assistance with dietary management
• psycho-social support
• diagnostic testing

More than 4,000 cases of heart failure are treated within the Sutter Health network each year. The goal of the heart failure clinic is to improve quality, prevent unnecessary emergency room visits and hospital admissions, promote consistency in use of ace inhibitors-new medicines that improve cardiac output -and promote better self-management through patient education and lifestyle changes.

Heart Failure Clinic Outcomes

The heart failure clinic has a high success rate with treating heart failure patients, and the statistics prove it.  Compared to the national statistics reported by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), our mortality outcomes are well below the national average.

Heart Failure Treatment Options

At the Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute, depending on the severity of your heart condition, heart failure is treated in many ways. From rescue device therapy, implantable assist devices, to heart transplantation, we are able to assist you with the best treatment options available.

Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento has been recognized as a Center of Excellence for rescue device therapy. We are only one of six centers nationally that have been awarded this distinction. Rescue device therapy is used on a temporary basis for patients who are in acute heart failure. These devices are used with the intent to save the patient’s native heart by taking over the work of the heart which then allows the heart to rest. In many cases, heart function and heart muscle are preserved and these patients can leave the hospital with their native hearts.

Advanced treatment for chronic heart failure usually consists of an implantable device known as the Ventricular Assist Device (VAD). Once implanted this device takes over the work of the weakened left ventricle, giving it time to rest. Patients are then allowed to return home after recovering from surgery and learning how to manage their equipment. They return to their "normal" life with some activity restrictions for safety. Implantable devices can be used as a bridge to transplant and patients are placed on a transplant list. If the patient does not need a transplant the VAD is used for destination therapy. Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento has applied for Joint Commission certification for destination therapy and should be certified by the end of 2009.

Heart transplantation services are offered to patients when all other forms of treatment have been exhausted. Our program has over 20 years of heart transplant experience with excellent outcomes, and is the only heart transplant program north of San Francisco.

For more information, please call the clinic at: (916) 733-8133, or (800) 556-8133.