Specialists and Care Centers

Heart Transplantation Specialists and Care Centers

Northwestern Memorial Hospital has a dedicated heart transplant team of cardiologists, nurses and other staff who coordinate in-hospital care and outpatient management for the heart transplant patient.

Transferring care to the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute 

Many patients transfer to the Heart Transplant Program at the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, part of Northwestern Memorial Hospital from outside institutions for heart transplantation. The role of your referring physician is invaluable when it comes to coordinating a safe and seamless transfer of care for their patients to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

The goal is to work with your referring clinical team and provide them with the necessary resources and information to best help you in your treatment.

Finances and insurance

The Heart Transplant Program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital is a Medicare-approved program, a Blue Distinction® Center for Transplants and an OptumHealthSM Transplant Center of Excellence.

We work with many insurance groups to make heart transplantation services possible for our patients. Our dedicated transplant financial coordinator is available to help patients and their families with billing and insurance matters, and to obtain pre-authorization for heart transplantation surgery and transplant-related procedures.

The transplant financial coordinator works with private insurance carriers as well as Medicare and Medicaid, and is an advocate for patients and their families, helping them navigate the complex insurance process.

For more information regarding finances and insurance, please contact the transplant financial coordinator at 312.926.4081.

Meet the Heart Transplant Team

Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute is a nationally recognized destination for those who require highly specialized cardiovascular care.
Meet the Team
Downtown Chicago
Locations
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    Related Resources

    Websites

    • Coalition on Donation: The organization promotes organ donation and provides education about it.
    • MedlinePlus: This is a trusted source that covers all aspects of organ donation and provides easy access to medical journal articles, extensive information about drugs, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials and the latest health news.
    • Mended Hearts Chicago: Mended Hearts is a national nonprofit organization that has offered the gift of hope to heart disease patients, their families and caregivers for 60 years.
    • National Organ and Tissue Donation Initiative: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is undertaking this initiative to ease the critical shortage of organ and tissue donors by building a national community of organ sharing.
    • United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS): Through the UNOS Organ Center, organ donors are matched to waiting recipients 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Through its policies, UNOS ensures that all patients have a fair chance at receiving the organ they need—regardless of age, sex, race, lifestyle, religion, or financial or social status. UNOS members include every transplant program, organ procurement organization and tissue typing laboratory in the United States.
    • Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network: Website of the not-for-profit organ procurement organization that works with hospitals and donor families in the northern three-fourths of Illinois and northwest Indiana. The organization is responsible for the recovery of organs and tissue for medical transplantation in the service area, as well as for professional and public education on organ and tissue donation.
    • Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN): OPTN is a unique public-private partnership that links all of the professionals involved in the donation and transplantation system. Its goals are to increase the supply of donated organs available for transplantation and the effectiveness and efficiency of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
    • Transplant Living: This is the United Network for Organ Sharing patient education site for all transplant patients.
    • TransWeb: TransWeb's mission is to provide information about donation and transplantation to the general public to promote organ donation and to provide transplant families with information dealing specifically with transplant issues.
    • U.S. Transplant—Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR): The SRTR supports the ongoing evaluation of the scientific and clinical status of solid organ transplantation in the United States.

    Support groups

    The following associations have support groups available to help patients and their families through a transplantation: