Cleveland Clinic Florida is pleased to announce that the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) in Florida has approved its applications for heart, liver and kidney transplant services.
Cleveland Clinic Florida saw the need to create transplant programs in order to meet the needs of a growing number of patients who currently must seek transplant services outside of South Florida. Research indicates that approximately 15 percent of patients have to travel out of the area for liver transplants, 23 percent for kidney transplants and 33 percent for heart transplants.
"This is a significant step forward in our quest to expand our highly specialized healthcare services and provide greater access to patients who live in South Florida," said Bernie Fernandez, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Cleveland Clinic Florida. "Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, our parent organization, has more than 50 years of experience and proven protocols in the area of organ transplantation. We look forward to providing these services in our community."
Cleveland Clinic Florida has the clinical areas of expertise to support a comprehensive transplant program. The organization has a unique model of medicine and employs more than 215 physicians in 35 medical specialties, which includes highly experienced transplant surgeons. The physicians practice in both Broward and Palm Beach counties and will also be able to provide patients with excellent pre-and post-transplant care.
"Cleveland Clinic is a recognized pioneer in the field of organ transplantation," said John Fung, MD, PhD, Chairman of the Digestive Disease Institute and Director of the Transplant Center at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. "Our patient outcomes and survival rates have been at or above national standards. We will work closely with our nationally recognized colleagues in Florida to implement this model of success for providing high quality, value based transplant services."
Liver cells effectively serve as immune checkpoint regulating anti-cancer immunity