Jewish Hospital scraps plan to suspend heart transplant program
KentuckyOne Health is nixing its month-old plan to inactivate its heart transplant program at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, instead opting to work with the University of Louisville to keep the program alive.
Local NBC affiliate WAVE reported Aug. 23 that KentuckyOne Health had canceled a voluntary action to place its transplant program on “long-term inactivation” after more than 35 years of service. Just last year, KentuckyOne and the University of Louisville completed their 500th heart transplant at the facility.
“The heart transplant program is simply too important for our university, our community and the patients who are depending on this life-saving procedure,” UofL President Neeli Bendapudi said. “We thank KentuckyOne for working with us to maintain the program. We are taking steps to shore up our efforts, and very soon we will have a plan in place to ensure the viability of the program for the future.”
UofL Health is slated to assume leadership over Jewish Hospital Nov. 1, at which point it will also absorb the hospital’s Certificate of Need for the heart transplant program.
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After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.