Patient Care

Clinical Programs

The Section of Cardiovascular Medicine represents the largest referral cardiology practice in the state. Faculty referrals result in 45-55% of inter-hospital referrals to Yale-New Haven Hospital. The Section leadership has taken the prime leadership role in developing the Yale-New Haven Heart Center. Last year resulted in a major one million dollar increase in clinical collections, resulting in gross collections of 10 million dollars. This represents well over half of the clinical revenues of the Department of Internal Medicine. The Section recently has taken responsibility for its front end billing process. This change has played a critical role in enhancing collections. The clinical revenues of the various programs within the section are outlined in Attachment 3.

The following clinical programs exist within the section. It is important to recognize that each program (with the exception of general cardiology and preventive cardiology) is led by a program chief who reports directly to the Section Chief and Associate Section Chief for Clinical Affairs. The specific subgroups are:

• Interventional Cardiology
• Electrophysiology
• Echocardiography
• Nuclear Cardiology
• Congestive Heart Failure/Cardiac Transplantation
• General Cardiology
• Preventive Cardiology
• West Haven VA Cardiology Program

It should be noted that the program at the West Haven VA has grown dramatically and now consists of 7 faculty members. The program has just received approval for a second cardiac catheterization laboratory.

The specific heads of the individual programs are:

• Interventional Cardiology - Michael Cleman, M.D.
• Electrophysiology - William Batsford, M.D.
• Echocardiography - Robert McNamara, M.D.
• Nuclear Cardiology/Exercise Testing - Albert Sinusas, M.D.
• Congestive Heart Failure/Cardiac Transplantation - Forrester Lee, M.D.
• West Haven VA - Robert Soufer, M.D.

The clinical program has emphasized outreach to referral sources both in our primary and secondary cachement areas. We have established extensive referral lines for interventional procedures throughout the state, particularly in New London, Norwich, Danbury, Westerly Rhode Island, Greenwich, and Waterbury. Seamless procedures have been developed for immediate patient transfer.

We have several additional sites for outpatient cardiology besides the Dana 3 clinic. This includes an extremely active outpatient site in Branford, staffed by the interventional cardiology group as well as additional members of the Section. The Heart Failure/Transplantation group has its clinical and investigative offices and laboratories at 135 College Street. In addition, we have opened an outpatient clinic in Guilford, which offers stress tests, nuclear cardiology services, and a cardiologist who specializes in preventive cardiology. We are constantly evaluating new clinical opportunities that will expand and solidify our referral base.