Corazon is the national leader in providing the full continuum of Consulting, Recruitment, Interim Management, and Accreditation for the Heart, Vascular, Neuroscience, and Orthopedic specialties. No other firm has Corazon’s diverse range of offerings within niched clinical specialties. Corazon’s team of Service Line Experts assist hospital leaders and physicians across the country and in Canada with unparalleled expertise, impartial advice, and progressive thinking to help clients reach their highest growth potential and achieve sustainable success.
Company Overview
Our Clients
Corazon is the national leader in strategic program development for the HEART, VASCULAR, NEUROSCIENCE, SPINE, and ORTHOPEDIC service lines. Our team of experts has worked with all types of hospitals and practices across 44 states and in Canada. Our clients will attest to the success we’ve helped them achieve through our proven models and results-driven approach.
Case Studies
The Corazon Team has had the pleasure of working with a diverse group of hospitals and physician practices from coast to coast.
Download a Case Study to read about the work we’ve completed at a few select client sites, and the impressive results we’ve helped these organizations achieve.
Cardiovascular Services
Cardiovascular Service Line of Excellence
The Southwest Michigan-based, not-for-profit health system, Spectrum Health Lakeland, offers a wide range of inpatient and outpatient care. In just two years, Spectrum Health Lakeland Heart and Vascular has achieved six Corazon Accreditations across three campuses, all while earning the prestigious “Service Line of Excellence” at their St. Joseph Medical Center.
Advanced Cardiac Services Expansion (PCI & Cardiac Surgery)
Gwinnett Medical Center partnered with Corazon to provide advanced levels of cardiac services, including coronary interventions and surgery, both much needed in their community. Starting in 2003 with a program plan and a Certificate of Need application, the expansion included a parallel track which allowed care to begin even sooner. Since going live, both programs have far exceeded their projected volumes and the hospital continues to receive recognition for their high quality cardiovascular program.Cardiovascular Expansion
Coffee Regional Medical Center engaged Corazon to conduct a planning process for CV expansion to include the development of a cath lab and offering angioplasty. If feasible, Corazon would assist in submitting a Certificate of Need (CON) for these services. Once approved, Corazon would implement the expansion, and accredit their program. CRMC grew faster than anticipated, which engaged them in Corazon’s Platinum Accreditation to include ongoing peer review.Cardiovascular Service Line Restructuring
Corazon assisted a large health system in the Midwest with service consolidation of their multi-site Cardiovascular Service Line. A proven approach to regionalize key services within a health system may allow providers to meet the market demands while sustaining Return on Investment, quality outcomes, and the health system’s trusted brand.PCI Program Implementation
Grand View Health, which includes Bucks County’s first hospital, has provided residents of Bucks and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania with comprehensive healthcare services since 1913. Now over a century strong, Grand View offers a range of inpatient and outpatient care — particularly emphasizing the areas of heart and vascular care, where a service expansion and resurgence of coronary intervention was deemed necessary to meet the growing needs of area patients.TAVR Assessment
A 365 bed, not-for-profit hospital in the Midwest engaged Corazon to perform a review of quality data for their transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) program to validate the overall clinical quality and operating performance.Neuroscience Services
Expanding Neuroscience Capabilities
Corazon client DePaul Medical Center, part of the BonSecours Health System, has a long, rich history as a healthcare provider. Challenges of declining reimb
ursement, the need for significant capital investment, competition for physician expertise, and outmigration of tertiary patients to competitors had made it increasingly difficult for Bon Secours to meet the comprehensive healthcare needs of the community.
ursement, the need for significant capital investment, competition for physician expertise, and outmigration of tertiary patients to competitors had made it increasingly difficult for Bon Secours to meet the comprehensive healthcare needs of the community.In response, the team constructed a comprehensive plan for clinical program development based upon community need. Expanding neuroscience capabilities at DePaul was determined to be a system priority with an initial focus on Stroke Center Certification.
Neuroscience Program: Measuring the Impact of Process Change
A recent survey of hospital CEOs in the U.S. identified cost containment and the maximizing of revenue capture as top priorities. And given ever-growing industry emphasis on quality, hospitals must find ways to ensure best practice care comes at the lowest possible cost.In the face of this finding, it may, on the surface, be counter-intuitive to suggest the engagement of an outside consultant in an effort to control costs, when an organization has already invested in qualified and competent service line leadership within the full-time work force. However, organizational leaders at the service line level are often consumed with day-to-day operations and, over time, are called upon to assume additional responsibilities.
The resulting dilution of work effort and diversion of attention means less time available to devote to the detailed evaluation, identification, and root cause analysis of operational inefficiencies that are directly and negatively impacting the organization’s bottom line.
Specialty Program Development
Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery, Alabama, a 463-bed not-for-profit hospital offering comprehensive health services for people throughout the state, has a long history of providing care for neuroscience patients, particularly those affected by stroke. Recognition of the need for expanded neuroscience and orthopedic capabilities led Baptist to consider new opportunities through a comprehensive strategic planning initiative…the goal: to shape both neurosciences and orthopedics specialties for the future.Thrombectomy
Baptist Medical Center South recognized a community need for life-saving and disability-sparing Mechanical Thrombectomy services and expanded neuroscience capabilities by working with Corazon’s experts to construct a comprehensive plan for the implementation of advanced stroke capabilities.Orthopedic Services
Comprehensive Spine Services Development
Yavapai Regional Medical Center in Prescott, Arizona was already providing spine services, but realized many patients were leaving the area to seek care an hour or more away from home. The hospital worked with Corazon to establish goals for their comprehensive spine program and ensure these initiatives became a reality. A market assessment, facility review, and other components were central to developing the strategic direction for the spine program. The result is a highly collaborative spine center that is experiencing continued growth and is differentiated from competitors due to high quality and patient satisfaction scores.Joint Replacement Program
Mills-Peninsula Medical Center in Burlingame, California offers a full array of inpatient and outpatient orthopedic services within a state-of-the art facility. The medical center had long considered the development of a formalized total joint (TJR) replacement program, but was hindered by limited experience in orthopedic program development, along with a lack of focus and dedicated resources. Corazon was engaged to serve as project leader to initiate the expansion to a formalized TJR Center and ensure continued momentum throughout implementation.Recruitment & Interim Management Services
Interim Clinical Nurse Specialist & Educator
Corazon placed a Clinical Nurse Specialist and Educator as an interim at multiple client sites. Through these engagements, the interim was able to showcase their talents and provide current educational materials and processes to prepare client nurse leaders for the future.Corazon CONNECT Package
Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery, AL worked with Corazon to expand their neuroscience offerings while finding the perfect fit for their Stroke Program Manager position using Corazon’s CONNECT Package.Director, Cardiac Services
Our client, a 49-bed full service hospital located in Soldotna, Alaska was seeking a Director, Cardiac Services for a new PCI program. The facility provides a comprehensive range of medical services to meet the needs of patients in the community and has a valued reputation for providing quality healthcare. This distinction is maintained by a staff of more than 880 employees and a medical team of over 80 physicians and allied health professionals.Director, Cardiovascular Services
A medical center in Georgia partnered with Corazon to implement an interventional cardiology (PCI) program. During this time, the need to recruit a Director of Cardiovascular Services became clear. It was during the implementation that the hospital fully realized the need to develop a service line approach for cardiovascular services and launched the recruitment for a Director of Cardiovascular Services while utilizing an Interim Administrator from Corazon’s pool of candidates.Regional Director, Electrophysiology
Our Client, a 900-bed academic medical center located in Washington, D.C. was seeking a Regional Director of Electrophysiology to join a nationally recognized Heart & Vascular Institute. The facility is part of a ten-hospital health system that provides the highest quality of care to the residents of Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.Vascular Surgeon Recruitment & Practice Development
Corazon client Oregon Heart Center been a single-specialty group for over 30 years, working exclusively with Salem Hospital serving patients of the community for cardiology services. When the hospital set the goal to build a vascular program, the practice agreed to expand to vascular as well, and recruit new specialists to the group, working with Corazon to identify and hire the right talent.Perioperative Services
Perioperative Services
Corazon has worked extensively with IRMC’s leadership and physicians in the past, having completed numerous consulting, program accreditation, and peer review projects. Given the significant contribution of the surgical services to the financial health of the hospital, and the identified need to have a third-party review operations and facility use by IRMC surgeons and staff, Corazon was engaged to identify the root causes and develop solutions to improve the performance of the Perioperative Services.Physician Alignment
Cardiology Physician Alignment
AdventHealth Manchester offers a wide range of inpatient and outpatient care – particularly emphasizing the areas of heart and vascular, where a service expansion and increased cardiology presence was deemed necessary to meet the growing needs of area patients.Knowing patients sometimes travel at least 25 miles for advanced
cardiac procedural care, AdventhHealth decided to remedy the access-to-care issue by working with Corazon to submit a Certificate of Need (CON) for diagnostic cardiac cath services in December 2018.
Hospital / Physician Partnerships
Recent trends reveal that Hospital / Physician partnerships remain first and foremost in the minds of hospital leaders and their physician counterparts. As laws in partnerships and reimbursement continue to change, and pressures increase to provide the highest clinical quality at the lowest possible cost, savvy leaders are wise to consider a formal arrangement with physicians in order to achieve or maintain excellence in care delivery and ensure operational efficiencies. Alignment strategies can also facilitate program and revenue growth, positively impact organizational reputation, and enhance competitive edge through market differentiation.Physician Alignment
Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery, Alabama, a 463-bed not-for-profit hospital, has a long history of providing comprehensive care for musculoskeletal patients, particularly total joint replacement, spine, fracture, and sports medicine Given the significant contribution of the orthopedic services to the financial health of the hospital and the close relationship with the orthopedic Surgeons, both parties decided to pursue a closer alliance to solidify the relationship and synchronize goals and incentives.The Heart & Brain Connection
AdventHealth Tampa
Organizations that experience success with a well-established, fully-functional cath lab often find that initial achievement of goals isquickly followed by questions about how to sustain it for the long term. The inclusion of neurovascular interventional capabilities
within the cath lab setting can be key to optimal utilization of resources, increased staff efficiency, and streamlined operations.
AdventHealth Tampa, a 536-bed hospital in Tampa, Florida took advantage of the heart and brain connection and Corazon had the opportunity to discuss with Brigitte Shaw and Dr. James Lefler about their program.
Community Hospital
Organizations that experience success with a well-established, fully-functional cath lab often find that initial achievement of goals is
quickly followed by questions about how to sustain it for the long term. The inclusion of neurovascular interventional capabilities within the cath lab setting can be key to optimal utilization of resources, increased staff efficiency, and streamlined operations.
Community Hospital, a 458-bed hospital in Munster, Indiana, took advantage of this heart and brain connection and Corazon had the opportunity to discuss with Jill Conner, Administrative Director of Neuroscience and Cerebrovascular Services.
Vein and Vascular Clinic
Catholic Medical Center
Ambulatory Surgery Center Assessment
ASC Assessment
A large midwestern multi-specialty clinic with more than 600 physicians and 15 cardiology providers engaged Corazon, Inc. in March of 2022 to develop a business plan to validate the expansion of invasive cardiology services in a newly constructed Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC). Services in the ASC would include diagnostic cardiac cath, PCI, peripheral vascular, and EP. In addition, Corazon evaluated the clinic’s need to build a cath lab through new construction. This initiative aimed at retaining cardiology patients in the local clinic setting vs. the burden for patients to go to hospital providers which some are of great distance.Meet Our Team
In the Community
Corazon is proud to take an active role in the following community organizations:
Our Partners
Corazon’s diverse network of business alliances serves to complement our existing scope of services and enhance patient care for our clients.
It was extremely helpful to have the assistance of the seasoned team from Corazon. They knew the PA regulations and were actually instrumental in assisting the DOH with the development of the guidelines, which was an added bonus of working with them. Corazon provided the A-Z of all of our needs, helping to establish the types of committees needed to ensure employees throughout the hospital had a say in the program, which allowed our team to become engaged in the program and thus instrumental to its success.
The Corazon team was very knowledgeable with planning and implementing our PCI program, as well working through the state regulatory environment for our program’s Accreditation. The projects were managed in a timely manner and used best practices and benchmarks for the development of not only implementing a cardiac cath lab, but developing a high-quality cardiac program. Our program is positioned for success from our collaboration with the Corazon team and we look forward to working with them again in the future.