Clinical Resource Hubs bridge gaps in cardiology care

A Clinical Resource Hubs telecardiology team is connecting Veterans with the care they need and deserve.

Difficulties with staffing medical specialists are not new. For years, trends have projected increasing shortages in health care providers. The Journal of the American College of Cardiology recently noted that an American College of Cardiology Board of Trustees Workforce Task Force predicted critical shortages of cardiologists due to supply-demand pressures more than 10 years ago.

Shortages of health care providers can tax already strained health care systems, causing delays for scheduling critical procedures and surgeries.

Veterans receive continued, uninterrupted service

This unfortunate fact is why the Veterans Integrated Services Network 16 Clinical Resource Hubs (CRH) telecardiology team based in Arkansas put its heart into its work connecting Veterans with the care they need and deserve.

The team of six drew on the expertise of several professionals to cover five key roles for providing cardiovascular (CV) care: we two authors, plus nurses Mary Hines and Sarah Shepard; Tammy Mohan, clinical operations; Dr. Feibe Chi, clinical pharmacist practitioner; and Tyler McAnally, physician assistant.

In addition to meeting the network’s needs, the team partnered with primary care providers across the country to ensure Veterans needing cardiology services received continued, uninterrupted (and even same-day) care.

Employing novel technology and enhanced clinical dashboards, they focused on the top six disease states, atrial fibrillation (AFib), stable angina, post-heart attack care, heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, shortness of breath, and coronary artery disease, among other cardiology consultations.

“Doing really good things for these Veterans.”

“Our team is able to provide specialized, comprehensive cardiology care within reasonable travel distance for our Veterans. We partner with our local VA facilities to assist with chronic management of cardiovascular disease, allowing our colleagues at local facilities to offer improved access to address the needs of Veterans with higher cardiovascular acuity needs,” Dr. Chi remarked.

Dr. Lisa Barnes, clinical pharmacist practitioner at Fayetteville VA who works closely with the telecardiology team, shared a recent Veteran experience: “Today, we saw a patient who was previously considering going into hospice because he was very sick. Now, he’s walking around and spending time with his family. We have lots of stories like that. We’re doing really good things for these patients.”

The team holds close to its heart many success stories like this one that inspire them each day.

Over the past two years, the team has had more than 2,300 care encounters through nine facilities and over 400 e-consultations since March 2022. While the need for cardiologists and other specialists will inevitably grow, VA is proud to have the VISN 16 telecardiology team with its inspiring, unwavering and heartfelt devotion to Veteran health and care.

To learn more about VA’s Clinical Resource Hubs, visit the CRH website.