Cheyenne Clinic Selected For Heart Attack Prevention Program

Cheyenne Cardiology Associates (CCA) has been picked to be part of a new five-year initiative that focuses on preventing heart attacks and strokes.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have selected 517 clinics from across the country for the "Million Hearts Cardiovascular Disease Risk Reduction Model."

Dr. Herman Feringa of CCA says the program is designed to try to prevent a million heart attacks in the U.S. by 2021. He says the program takes a preventative, holistic approach to heart attacks and strokes rather than the more traditional model of simply responding to issues such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol as they develop.

Each patient will be given a personalized plan to reduce their risk factors. That could include such things as helping a person stop smoking or lose weight, for example.

Participants must be on Medicare to be eligible. The program is expected to get underway at CCA by early 2017, CCA is one of 17 clinics that are part of the Cheyenne Regional Medical Group.