Heart Failure Clinic

The Austin Heart Heart Failure Clinic was established in 1998 as the first of its kind, comprehensive and state-of-the-art program to meet the exclusive needs of our patients with heart failure.

You may be referred to the Heart Failure Clinic by your primary care provider, your cardiologist, or you may refer yourself.

Goals of the Heart Failure Clinic

1. Identify and treat reversible causes of heart failure
2. Educate patients and families
3. Provide aggressive outpatient treatment to minimize hospitalizations and maximize quality of life for patients with chronic heart failure
4. Offer research protocols to advance knowledge in the treatment of heart failure.

Heart failure is a complex disease process that is best managed with a multidisciplinary approach. The cardiologists, physician assistants, nurses and technicians who work in the Heart Failure Clinic treat patients through a multi-faceted approach that includes:

• Diagnosis
• Patient and family education about medication, diet and lifestyle changes
• Novel therapies (ventricular assist devices)
• Transplant evaluation
• Hospice Referral

Meet the Heart Failure Team

• Heart Failure Specialists
  • Kunjan A Bhatt, MD
  • Janice Huang, MD
  • Jerome Thomas, MD, FACC
• Advance Practice Providers
  • Megan Berard, APRN, FNP-C
  • Laura Calais, APRN, ACNS-BC
  • Jennifer Lord, MSN, FNP
  • Trang Nguyen, PA-C
  • Samuel Rammage, PA
  • Brooke Watts, APRN, AGACNP-BC
  • Katie Wills, APRN, AGACNP-BC
• Staff Nurses
• Home Health Services
• Social Workers
• Nutritionist
• Pharmacist
• Cardiac Rehabilitation
• Hospice

Advanced Heart Failure

Referral Criteria for Transplant or Mechanical Circulatory Support

Patients with any criteria below should be considered:

• Systolic heart failure with refractory symptoms (Class 3b/4) despite optimal medical and device therapy (OMT)
• Intolerance to HF medications or having to withdraw medications
• One or more heart failure hospitalizations in six months
• If on OMT and patient has one or more of the following:
  
  • Hyponatremia < 132 mmol/l
  • Hypotension SBP < 90 mmHg
  • Azotemia BUN > 40 (excluding dehydration) or worsening renal function (thought to be secondary to HF)

• Recurrent ICD shock or refractory VT
• Escalating diuretic requirement
• Age 18-75 years old with no obvious life-limiting co-morbidities

To make a referral, call our Heart Failure Clinic during office hours.

Monday - Friday: 8:00am to 5:00pm

• Phone: (512) 450-7299
• All referrals, after hours — (512) 206-3600

Contact Us

Feel free to contact us by calling (800) 803-6960 or via e-mail. Our office hours are Mon - Fri: 8:00am - 5:00pm.