Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program
Adult Congenital Heart Disease | Information for Healthcare Professionals

Working with You to Provide the Best Cardiac Care

Through our Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Program, our goal is to work with you to provide superior cardiac care for your adult patients with congenital heart disease. Because of our broad and extensive experience in treating patients with ACHD, we are able to provide treatments with reduced length of stay and improved outcomes.

You’ll find a collaborative partner in the care for your patients when you choose to work with us. Contact us for more information on referrals, consultations and second opinions.

Why trust your patients to our ACHD Program?

Specialized Training

Like in other fields of medicine, training is critical in ACHD. It enables specialists to provide better care, detect problems in a timely manner, and can help save many lives.

Our team brings the latest assessment and treatment options to our patients. Our congenital heart specialists have experience in the complex procedures that an ACHD patient may have had in childhood. They have the expertise to review scans, understand the physiology, determine proper tests, and conduct specialized procedures based on surgeries and repairs done in childhood.

Shared Care

Our goal is to work with the healthcare providers outside of Cincinnati Children’s our patients already see now. We team with other doctors—from adult cardiologists to primary care physicians to OB/GYNs and other specialists—and make decisions together with you and the patient. This approach means our patients benefit from the care of a doctor who knows them well, and specialists who know CHD well.

  • We use a co-management model that allows our team to address the specialized congenital heart disease, while our patients’ other medical issues continue to be followed by the referring physician or primary care provider.
  • Our team keeps in close communication with referring physicians and primary care providers to ensure the best possible care.
  • After an ACHD intervention, patients will, as is appropriate, return to our center for follow-up care, and we will continue to partner with their primary care providers.

Cardiac Catheterization Program

Our state-of-the-art Hybrid Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory allows us to provide the best and safest care to patients with complex cardiac conditions, while minimizing the total number of procedures or interventions they may require. This lab allows us to perform a wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, including simultaneous surgery and catheterization procedures.

Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology Program

Our Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology Program team leads the way in evaluating and treating complex abnormal heart rhythms. We have experience working with very complex heart rhythm disorders and use cutting-edge therapies in our treatments. We provide interventions that have a high level of safety and low level of complications.

Global Access

We hold outreach ACHD clinics in collaboration with partner institutions. Every week our team collaborates with these institutions and other groups using robust telemedicine links. Our Center for Telehealth allows us to share our expertise anywhere in the world, and to collaborate on medical and surgical planning. We offer the latest equipment for connecting pediatric specialists here with patients and colleagues around the globe.

Resources for Healthcare Professionals

Heart University’s ACHD e-Learning Center

Heart University’s ACHD e-Learning Center is a joint development maintained by Cincinnati Children’s Heart Institute and the International Society for Adult Congenital Heart Disease.

The site features Adult Congenital Heart Defect resources, learning modules, a fellows’ testing center and journal articles. Access to material is free.

There are two main audiences for this material:

  1. Healthcare professionals caring for adults with congenital heart defects. For this community, we would like this site to be the first port of call to identify and access high-quality web-based ACHD educational resources.
  2. Cardiology trainees and cardiologists interested in learning more about adults with congenital heart defects. For this community, we have established focused ACHD teaching modules that can be used by trainees and also by their teachers and training program directors.

CHiP Network

The Congenital Heart International Professional’s Network (CHiP) provides a global list of all CHD-interested professionals the ability to:

  • Connect pediatric and adult CHD-interested professionals to events, conferences, research opportunities and employment
  • Increase education and provider awareness of new developments in the field
  • Bring the pediatric and adult congenital heart communities into closer contact
  • Offer a communication tool for critical issues

CHiP is an inclusive network comprised of anyone who considers themselves a congenital heart professional or administrator, from pediatric cardiologists and ACHD cardiologists, to RNs and social workers.

ACHD Fellowship