MU Health Care’s Heart Program Joins an Elite National List

MU Health Care’s Columbia campus just landed on a short list: it’s now one of only 28 hospitals nationwide — and one of just five in Missouri — to earn the Joint Commission’s Comprehensive Cardiac Center (CCC) Certification.

The certification is one of the most rigorous a cardiac program can earn. It doesn’t just look at one procedure or one department; it’s awarded to health systems that show excellence across the whole arc of heart care, from a middle-of-the-night emergency to years of follow-up afterward. MU Health Care’s Columbia campus qualified on the strength of its round-the-clock Level I STEMI emergency heart care, advanced surgical and interventional procedures, structural heart and valve therapies, heart failure management, and cardiac rehabilitation program.

“This recognition reflects MU Health Care’s unwavering commitment to delivering the highest level of care,” said Ric Ransom, CEO of MU Health Care.

“This certification validates the depth and coordination of care our teams provide every day,” said Dr. Arun Kumar, director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine.

Two of the physicians whose daily work the certification recognizes described what it actually means for a patient walking through the door. “It basically means we can take care of patients from the beginning to the end of their heart care journey,” said Dr. Lindsey Saint, a cardiothoracic surgeon at MU Health Care. And for the many patients who don’t need surgery at all, said Dr. Marc Shelton, a cardiologist at MU Health Care, “a lot of patients just need medical therapy and help taking action to reduce their risk for heart problems at clinic visits” — with a direct line to specialists if their case turns out to need more.

For a hospital that serves the whole tri-county stretch along the river, that’s the kind of distinction that matters well beyond Columbia city limits: it means the nearest major heart program to Rocheport, Fayette, and Boonville has just been independently vetted as one of the best-coordinated in the country.