Monument Health Expands Cardiac Services

Monument Health Heart and Vascular Institute will be extending its cardiac services to include treatment for advanced heart failure. This includes a partnership with the University of Minnesota, which is recognized as a world leader in cardiovascular care. 

Luis Hernandez, M.D., FACC, recently completed an Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, and has been named Monument Health Service Line Lead for Heart Failure. 

“This expansion of services is still in development in many ways. We’re beginning with patients who need more attention and care for their heart failure,” said Dr. Hernandez. “That may include increased medical management, a left assisted ventricular device (LVAD), which is a heart pump, or a heart transplant. We do not offer heart transplantation in Rapid City, but our partnership with the University of Minnesota will allow us to offer our patients these therapies while we continue to provide increased services in our community.’’

Just as important, Dr. Hernandez and his team are working to ensure that cardiac patients will be assessed for potential heart failure in order to catch problems earlier. “We are going to see patients in the hospital, put them on the right medical therapy and provide close follow-up care to help prevent hospital readmission and improve quality of life. By seeing them sooner, we may be able to prevent the need for a heart transplant or an LVAD,” added Dr. Hernandez. “We will also be able to identify and work to alleviate social issues that may be contributing to readmission.” 

Monument Health is continuing to grow the service by hiring more providers for the program, in addition to the established team, to work alongside Dr. Hernandez in the Heart Failure Program.