Certification Confirms Program's Commitment to Quality and Patient Safety
BOSTON – The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) has certified the Beth Israel Lahey Health (BILH) Heart Transplant Program based at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), marking another milestone for this important program.
Following an onsite survey of the program earlier this year, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, reviewing on behalf of CMS, verified that the BILH Heart Transplant Program met a series of facility and patient selection criteria, which are designed to protect the health and safety of patients and to assure quality of care.
"Our heart transplant program is already making a difference in the lives of patients who have received new hearts," said Pablo Quintero Pinzon, MD, Heart Transplant Program Medical Director. "The comprehensive review by CMS demonstrated that we have established a safe and effective cardiac transplant program, and we are pleased to reach this milestone."
The program is led by a team of experienced surgeons, advanced heart failure physicians, cardiac anesthesiologists, nurses, pharmacists, and support staff from across the BILH system with expertise in all aspects of heart transplantation. The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) July 2025 report recognized the BILH Heart Transplant Program's outstanding outcomes. The program is currently ranked first in the United States, measuring above the national average in all major metrics, including survival on the waitlist, access to transplant faster, and one-year survival outcomes.
"This milestone affirms that our team is delivering high quality patient care as evidenced by outcomes for patients and sound policies and procedures," said Jessie Breed, MS, BSN, RN, Director of Heart Transplant and Specialty Programs at BIDMC. "Surveyors also commended the group on our collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to delivering care."
Since the program launched in August 2023, Surgical Director Masashi Kai, MD, has performed 73 transplants at BIDMC, and has performed more than 350 during his career. "Over the past two years, the program has grown tremendously, and our team continues working to increase access to heart failure care, including transplantation," said Dr. Kai.
Patients treated in this program receive life-saving care in BIDMC's Klarman Building, which opened in 2023 with a state-of-the-art surgical pavilion and 30 cardiac intensive care unit (ICU) rooms.
As the current leading cardiovascular services provider in eastern Massachusetts, BILH serves more than 5,000 patients with advanced heart failure each year. Experts in advanced heart failure from BIDMC and Lahey Hospital & Medical Center (LHMC) work closely with cardiovascular specialists across the system to evaluate patients who may be a candidate for heart transplant.
"Our partnership in this clinical arena is a result of a phenomenal team. We have 14 physician experts in advanced heart failure seeing patients at 10 locations across the Boston-metro area," said Susan Moffatt-Bruce, MD, PhD, Divisional President and President of LHMC.
"The Beth Israel Lahey Health Heart Transplant program is changing lives, one person at a time," said Pete Healy, President, BIDMC and Divisional President, Metro Boston, BILH. "We are deeply proud of what the team has achieved and we look forward to its continued growth, as expanding access to cardiovascular services is so important to meeting the health needs of the patients and communities we serve."
To learn more, please visit the Heart Transplant Program webpage
