Leading expert in cardiac surgery, Dr. Lawrence Cohn, MD, explains how the best heart disease treatment comes from a team-based approach. He details the cardiovascular service line model, where cardiac surgeons and cardiologists collaborate directly with patients to determine the optimal therapy, eliminating financial conflicts and ensuring decisions are made solely for clinical benefit. This method, which often includes simultaneous second opinions, saves patients time and provides confidence in their treatment plan.
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Finding the Best Heart Disease Treatment Through Team-Based Care
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- What Defines the Best Doctor for Heart Disease?
- The Cardiovascular Service Line Concept Explained
- Key Benefits for Heart Disease Patients
- How This Model Eliminates Financial Conflicts
- The Role of a Second Opinion in Heart Disease
- How to Find the Best Heart Disease Treatment Team
What Defines the Best Doctor for Heart Disease?
The best doctor for heart disease treatment is not a single individual but a cohesive, multidisciplinary team. As explained by cardiac surgeon Dr. Lawrence Cohn, MD, optimal patient care results from the collaboration between cardiac surgeons and cardiologists who have worked together for many years. This team-based approach ensures that complex decisions, such as whether a patient needs mitral valve repair or another intervention, are made with comprehensive expertise.
Dr. Anton Titov, MD, highlights that patients seeking the best cardiovascular disease treatment should prioritize finding these established, collaborative teams. The synergy between specialists often leads to higher success rates and more personalized care plans.
The Cardiovascular Service Line Concept Explained
The cardiovascular service line is an innovative care model designed to centralize patient care. Dr. Lawrence Cohn, MD, describes it as gathering all physicians involved in a particular area, like heart valve disease, to see the patient together. This concept, which originated in Germany with "headache clinics," brings specialists like neurologists and neurosurgeons into one room with the patient for immediate, collaborative decision-making.
In cardiac care, this means a patient with aortic valve stenosis can consult with both a cardiologist and a cardiac surgeon in a single visit. This efficient model is rapidly spreading across the United States as a new standard for delivering high-quality, patient-centered care.
Key Benefits for Heart Disease Patients
This collaborative system offers profound benefits for individuals facing a heart disease diagnosis. Patients receive two expert opinions—from a cardiologist and a cardiac surgeon—simultaneously, which saves significant time and travel. Dr. Lawrence Cohn, MD, notes that "patients love this method" because it provides clarity and confidence in their treatment path.
Furthermore, as Dr. Anton Titov, MD, discusses, this approach is particularly valuable for complex conditions like multi-vessel coronary heart disease. The immediate multidisciplinary discussion helps determine if a patient is a candidate for minimally invasive surgery or other advanced treatment options, ensuring they receive the most appropriate and modern care available.
How This Model Eliminates Financial Conflicts
A critical advantage of the service line model is its removal of financial incentives from medical decision-making. Dr. Lawrence Cohn, MD, explains that in this system, all income from various subspecialties is combined "into one pot." This structure means it no longer matters financially whether a cardiac surgeon performs a procedure or a cardiologist manages the patient medically.
The decision on the best therapy is based purely on clinical discussion and mutual agreement between the doctors, not on which treatment is more lucrative for a particular specialist. This ensures the patient's well-being is the sole priority, a point heavily emphasized by Dr. Anton Titov, MD, in the search for the best care.
The Role of a Second Opinion in Heart Disease
Obtaining a second opinion is a crucial step for confirming a coronary heart disease diagnosis and exploring all treatment options. The service line model inherently provides this, as patients instantly get perspectives from both a cardiologist and a cardiac surgeon. This process verifies that the diagnosis is correct and complete.
It also helps choose the best surgical or medical treatment, whether for multi-vessel coronary disease or valve issues like mitral valve repair. Dr. Lawrence Cohn, MD, affirms that this collaborative second opinion allows patients to be confident they are receiving the best possible treatment plan for their specific condition.
How to Find the Best Heart Disease Treatment Team
For patients seeking the best heart disease treatment, the key is to look for healthcare institutions that have adopted a cardiovascular service line or similar multidisciplinary team approach. Dr. Anton Titov, MD, advises looking for heart valve clinics or centers where cardiac surgeons and cardiologists see patients together.
These teams often have extensive experience working collaboratively, which translates to more refined decision-making and better patient outcomes. As Dr. Lawrence Cohn, MD, concludes, this evolving standard of care, focused on teamwork and removing financial barriers, represents the future of high-quality, ethical, and effective heart disease treatment.
Full Transcript
Dr. Anton Titov, MD: How to find the best doctor for heart disease treatment? What does "best doctor" mean for a heart disease patient? A leading cardiac surgeon explains how the best doctors for heart disease treatment work.
How to find the best doctor for heart disease treatment? Dr. Lawrence H. Cohn, MD. The best cardiac surgeons work in a team with cardiologists.
Dr. Anton Titov, MD: How to deal with financial incentives to make a patient choose the most lucrative method of treatment for doctors? This is the cardiac service line concept.
Patients who seek the best cardiovascular disease treatment options should seek multidisciplinary teams who work together for many years. The best heart surgeon for mitral valve repair.
Dr. Lawrence Cohn, MD: A video interview with a leading expert in cardiac surgery. A second opinion confirms that a coronary heart disease diagnosis is correct and complete. Second opinion helps to choose the best surgical treatment for coronary heart disease.
Get a second opinion on multi-vessel coronary heart disease and be confident that your treatment is the best. Surgery for coronary heart disease can be done by minimally invasive methods. How to find the best doctor for heart disease.
Dr. Anton Titov, MD: What is a "cardiovascular and thoracic service line" concept? How does it affect the evolving quality standards of heart disease treatment today?
Dr. Lawrence Cohn, MD: The cardiovascular service line concept means this: gather all the patients involved in that particular medicine or surgery area together. See the patient all together. It is very convenient for a patient.
Sometimes someone has aortic valve stenosis. This patient visits a cardiologist and a cardiac surgeon at the same time. It is very helpful to determine the best treatment for such a patient.
This originally started in Germany. It was a "Headache Clinic". The patient comes and visits a neurologist, neurosurgeon, and neuroradiologist together. All physicians discuss the clinical situation in front of the patient.
They make a decision on what to do in a timely fashion. In a service line concept of patient care, economic factors are important.
Dr. Lawrence Cohn, MD: Different specialists combine all income from their subspecialties into one pot. This makes for very good patient care. Because the patient receives the treatment that is best for that particular patient.
Decisions are based on mutual discussion between all doctors. It does not matter which specialist does what treatment. All the money physicians earn goes into one bucket.
So it does not matter whether a cardiac surgeon or a cardiologist treats the patient. It is most important that the best therapy is done for the patient.
This "service line" concept is spreading in the US. We have a "cardiovascular service line" concept here. We have a heart valve disease clinic. Cardiac surgeons and cardiologists meet with patients together.
We sometimes visit other cities and states. For example, we visit Rhode Island state to see patients.
Dr. Lawrence Cohn, MD: Patients love this method of patient care. They hear two opinions on how to best treat them. They hear from a cardiac surgeon and a cardiologist at the same time. It saves a lot of time on travel.
Dr. Anton Titov, MD: How to find the best doctor for heart disease treatment? Surgeons and cardiologists work together for the patient’s benefit. The best surgeon for mitral valve repair.