New program connects health care centers to volunteer cardiologists
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The American Heart Association announced a new program to virtually connect health care facilities to volunteer cardiologists.
The initiative, called Doctors With Heart, intends to promote access to cardiologists and cardiology care through telemedicine in areas where care is not available, according to a press release issued by the AHA. Volunteers will be linked to participating community health centers and Federally Qualified Health Centers at no cost. The program was developed by the AHA’s Center for Health Technology & Innovation.
“Over the last several years, clinicians would call me for cardiology advice,” Ann Marie Navar, MD, PhD, a cardiologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and AHA volunteer, said in the release. “I knew I wasn’t the only cardiologist willing to share my time, but we needed a way to better provide these consultations at scale, and a technology platform that would enable it.”
Navar assisted in the early process of building the program, and during the 2020-2021 pilot program, Doctors With Heart supplied volunteer cardiologists to three health care centers across the U.S.
According to the release, the AHA will continue to develop the initiative to provide necessary care and consultations to areas in need.
“Every person deserves the opportunity for a full, healthy life, and our dedication to identifying and removing barriers to health care helps us define a future where intelligent, digital health solutions enable scalable and affordable access to care for patients,” Eric Peterson, MD, MPH, vice provost and senior associate dean for clinical research at UT Southwestern and AHA volunteer chair for the Center for Health Technology & Innovation’s Health Tech Advisory Group, said in the release.
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