Lee Health Announces Alliance with Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute

From Dr. Richard Chazal is medical director of the Lee Health Heart and Vascular Institute and past president of the American College of Cardiology

Lee Health is committed to providing the highest quality of cardiovascular care to those we serve.

That’s why I am so proud to announce that Lee Health has entered an affiliation agreement with Cleveland Clinic and is now an alliance member of Cleveland Clinic’s Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute, uniting Southwest Florida’s leading health care provider with the top-ranked cardiac program in the U.S. to elevate patient care in Southwest Florida.

This latest announcement follows the previously established strategic alliance between Cleveland Clinic and Lee Health in November 2020 to enhance and improve care in Southwest Florida by exploring opportunities for service line affiliations and strategic initiatives to improve quality and efficiency of care through clinical and operational enhancements.

We are already a nationally-recognized, top cardiovascular hospital in the country, and this alliance only makes us even better.

Lee Health has a long history of excellence in cardiac care, with HealthPark Medical Center having been recognized multiple times as one of the Top 50 Cardiovascular Hospitals in the country by IBM Watson. HealthPark Medical Center is the only hospital in Florida to receive this recognition for four consecutive years.

The Ohio-based Cleveland Clinic Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute is one of the world’s largest, most experienced cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgery programs. Cleveland Clinic has been ranked the No. 1 hospital in the country for cardiology and cardiac surgery for 27 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

This alliance through a new affiliation agreement with Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute makes Lee Health the exclusive Cleveland Clinic heart alliance member in Southwest Florida. It allows for the sharing of best practices, enhancing opportunities to provide new treatments and therapies to patients, as well as exploring cutting-edge technologies and techniques in cardiovascular care that will accelerate advances in treatments.

Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute Alliance Network was launched in 2003. For almost two decades, the Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute has formed alliances with cardiothoracic surgery and cardiovascular medicine programs in Ohio and across the country, providing access to world-class care and the unparalleled expertise of Cleveland Clinic’s heart program. The Alliance Network includes 13 hospitals across the country, with the addition of Lee Health. As an alliance member, both Lee Health and Cleveland Clinic remain independent, with no changes in control of physicians or staff.

I am so excited for this alliance and what it means for our patients and all of Southwest Florida.

For more information about Lee Health, visit www.LeeHealth.org. For more information on Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute, visit www.ClevelandClinic.org/heart.