Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute Announces Launch of National Cardiometabolic Center Alliance

Alliance to establish Cardiometabolic Centers of Excellence across the nation

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (June 16, 2020) —Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute today announced the launch of the Cardiometabolic Center Alliance, a coalition that seeks to establish Cardiometabolic Centers of Excellence nationwide to reimagine the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D), and related cardiovascular (CV) and renal comorbidities —providing team-based, patient-centered, comprehensive preventative care. Alliance members will adopt and implement a novel care model designed and successfully implemented by Saint Luke’s Michael & Marlys Haverty Cardiometabolic Center of Excellence in Kansas City, MO. Based on the initial data, under this model the rates of optimal guideline-directed medical therapy substantially increased over the national average, ensuring that patients with T2D receive care that is aimed at both optimizing diabetes management and providing comprehensive cardiovascular risk reduction with therapies proven to improve outcomes. These results are made possible by a unified team of clinicians from across the disease continuum, who focus on holistic, guideline-directed preventative care. "By working collaboratively, we plan to lead a nationwide implementation initiative to significantly lessen the impact of diabetes and its most common and morbid complications,” said Dr. Mikhail Kosiborod, Cardiometabolic Center Alliance Executive Director. "The Cardiometabolic Center Alliance will build on our existing success in Kansas City, replicating our novel clinical care delivery model on a wider scale, with the key objective of improving the quality of care and outcomes of patients with cardiometabolic disease, so they can live longer, healthier, and more active lives, no matter where they live.” The Alliance will provide insight, guidance and materials (including protocols and processes of care) to its members so they can establish their own Centers of Excellence. Through their participation, Alliance members will also contribute to a national registry that will track treatment patterns and quality of care. As the Alliance enhances its capabilities, improves processes, and expands research opportunities on a national scale, the ultimate goal will be improved patient outcomes. AstraZeneca is the founding sponsor of the Alliance. Naeem Khan, Vice President, Medical, US Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disease at AstraZeneca said: “In alignment with our commitment to taking a holistic, patient-centric approach to treating cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases, AstraZeneca is proud to support Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute as founding sponsor of this innovative Cardiometabolic Center Alliance. More than 30 million Americans are living with type 2 diabetes, which is often accompanied by other serious or life-threatening conditions. The Alliance aims to create a seamless disease management pathway, supporting our ambition of transforming patient care in type 2 diabetes and its associated comorbidities.” In this initial phase, Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute aims to recruit up to 20 sites to the Cardiometabolic Center Alliance.

Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute

Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, a member of Saint Luke’s Health System and a teaching affiliate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, is one of the preeminent cardiovascular programs in the country. Its legacy of innovation began more than 35 years ago when it opened as the nation’s first heart hospital. Since then, the Heart Institute has earned a world-wide reputation for excellence in the treatment of heart disease, including interventional cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, imaging, heart failure, transplant, heart disease prevention, women’s heart disease, electrophysiology, outcomes research, and health economics. With more than 60 full-time board certified cardiovascular specialists on staff, the Heart Institute offers one of the largest heart failure/heart transplant programs in the country, has the largest experience with transcatheter aortic valve replacement in the Midwest, and is a global teaching site for the newest approaches to opening challenging blocked arteries using minimally invasive techniques.