New National Report Maps U.S. Heart Failure Clinic Landscape, Reveals Major Care Gaps

HFSA's inaugural "State of Heart Failure Clinics in the United States" report finds over 300 registered clinics serving 626,000 patients with the Southern "stroke belt" and rural America remaining the most underserved

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) today released State of Heart Failure Clinics in the United States, the first comprehensive national analysis of the specialty clinics that treat heart failure (HF), a condition affecting an estimated 6.7 million Americans and projected to reach 11.4 million by 2050¹.

Built on the HFSA Heart Failure Clinic Database and benchmarked against CMS, U.S. Census, and published literature, the report captures over 300 registered HF programs across 47 states and the District of Columbia, serving 626,000 patients. Key findings include:

• Registered programs are concentrated in academic medical centers (48%) and major metropolitan corridors, while several high-burden Southern and Appalachian states, including Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana, have only one to three registered clinics despite carrying some of the nation's highest HF prevalence and mortality rates
• 74% of registered clinics report ventricular assist device (VAD) involvement and 50% report transplant involvement
• 62% are active in clinical research, with 123 sites carrying full investigational-site capability
• 92% of clinics offer telehealth, helping extend specialty care into geographically isolated markets

"This report shows where specialty heart failure care exists in the United States and, just as importantly, where it doesn't," said Kenneth B. Margulies, MD, HFSA President. "The clinics in this database represent professional, multidisciplinary care. But the mismatch between where that care is concentrated and where the disease burden is heaviest is the central challenge our country needs to address."

The HFSA Heart Failure Clinic Database will continue to grow in the years to come, with additional clinics in the database and additional datapoints on each of the clinics. This additional data will lead to an even more complete picture of heart failure care in America. This will lead to clinics benchmarking their own capabilities, researchers identifying trial-ready sites, and a more thorough understanding where specialty HF care is thriving and where it is still needed.

Clinic Registration is Ongoing

HFSA is actively recruiting programs in underrepresented states, and the report outlines near-, medium-, and long-term opportunities to strengthen the network further, including standardizing patient-reported outcome capture and building telehealth-anchored hub-and-spoke networks to extend specialist reach into rural and underserved communities. HF programs not yet in the database are encouraged to register.

The full report, including state-by-state data and a directory of participating clinics, is available online.

About the Heart Failure Society of America

The Heart Failure Society of America, Inc. (HFSA) represents the first organized effort by heart failure experts from the Americas to provide a forum for all those interested in heart function, heart failure, and congestive heart failure (CHF) research and patient care. The mission of HFSA is to provide a platform to improve and expand heart failure care through collaboration, education, innovation, research, and advocacy. HFSA members include physicians, scientists, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, trainees, other healthcare workers and patients. For more information, visit hfsa.org.

Media Contact: Laura Poko, 301-798-4493, ext. 226, [email protected]

SOURCE Heart Failure Society of America