Heart Failure Program

Vanderbilt is consistently ranked among the nation’s best by leading authorities on health care quality. People from throughout the Southeast and across the country rely on us for the best and most innovative care possible. 

We serve a large number of patients, which gives us vast experience. That means expert care for you. We welcome patients with even the most advanced or complex heart failure, who may have been turned away by other hospitals. Vanderbilt Health is one of the top heart transplant programs in the world, providing patients with outstanding outcomes and access to innovative new research and treatments. Our specialists also provide lifesaving heart-kidney, heart-liver and heart-lung transplants for patients with multiple organ failure.

Our cardiologists and surgeons work with social workers, dietitians, psychologists and pharmacists to provide complete care that is personalized for you. We will help you and your family understand your treatment options, whether that means simply changing your diet and exercise, or medication, surgery, mechanical circulatory support or a heart transplant.

Our heart specialists help develop new ways to treat heart failure. For example, we were among the first hospitals to use the Optimizer® cardiac contractility modulation device, recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for heart failure patients who can’t have cardiac resynchronization therapy. As one of the first hospitals in the Southeast to offer ventricular assist devices (VADs), we’ve implanted more than 500, including implanting the first total artificial heart in 2018. We also have been among the first to provide newer technologies, such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for patients with severe conditions.

As part of an academic medical center, we are leaders in caring for the most complex conditions. Our commitment to research means that you receive the most current, advanced treatment available.

Because we are part of an academic medical center, we offer access to some of the most promising new treatments and therapies being tested in clinical trials. Participating in a clinical trial is always optional. Find a clinical trial.