COSEHC established in 1998 the first series of Cardiovascular Centers of Excellence in its ongoing efforts to reduce the high incidence of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in the Southeastern United States by enhancing the participation of physicians and health care providers to address this problem. This initiative has lead to new opportunities for improved access to healthcare and better management of cardiovascular disease in the South.

Designated Centers create partnerships with local health care providers, managed care organizations, public health officials, consumers, employers and academic centers to develop programs that focus on treatment, clinical research and prevention of hypertension-related cardiovascular disease. Centers participating in this initiative have access to the best health care approaches to treat high blood pressure and participate in innovative clinical research in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the heart and the blood vessels. Medical facilities and participating physicians are linked through a network of computers to share information, provide on-line consultation and assist in facilitating access to any member of the network.

Because each participating Center has been selected through a National Committee of Experts, patients have the unique opportunity to access the best that medicine can provide in the treatment of heart attacks, strokes, and renal disease. In turn, physicians named as members of COSEHC-designated Cardiovascular Centers of Excellence are leaders in their respective fields and actively participate as officers of leading medical and public health organizations.

The Hypertension and Vascular Disease Center of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC is the headquarters of this medical organization. An internationally renowned faculty provides participating Centers with medical tools and treatment protocols that pioneer new drugs and procedures for the control of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, strokes and heart attack. Their research and expertise is shared with participating physicians to give our patients the best that medicine can provide today.