UK HealthCare

Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital joins Gill Affiliate Network

UK cardiologist Navin Rajagopalan, M.D., director of the Gill Affiliate Network, joins leadership from Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital to celebrate the new affiliation. Photo by Charles Mahlinger.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 11, 2024)UK HealthCare welcomes Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital to the UK Gill Heart & Vascular Institute Affiliate Network, a community of hospitals across the state committed to enhancing cardiovascular health. 

Through the network, Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital providers and staff will have access to cardiac-focused education and training, support for advancing cardiovascular quality, heart-centered educational resources and personalized assistance from the Gill Affiliate Network team to address needs across the cardiovascular spectrum. 

“Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital believes joining the UK Gill Heart & Vascular Institute Affiliate Network furthers our mission to heal the sick and to improve the health of the communities we serve,” said Ed Heath, CEO of Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital. “We look forward to utilizing the expertise of UK HealthCare and the perks of this affiliation to better serve our patients.”

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Kentucky and the state has one of the country’s highest rates of heart disease. The Gill Affiliate Network seeks to address this disparity in care by fostering collaboration and expertise-sharing among member hospitals, offering access to a vast array of educational resources, quality improvement initiatives, and specialized training to enhance cardiovascular health statewide. 

As part of these measures, UK Gill Heart & Vascular Institute works with a large network of regional and community hospitals across the state to enhance access to high-quality cardiovascular care to ensure Kentuckians receive care where and when they need it. The affiliate network includes 24 hospitals, more than 15 outreach locations and more than 12 sites where Gill provides cardiac image interpretation services across cardiovascular imaging modalities. 

“For many years, our successful partnership with Owensboro Health has ensured that the providers and patients of western Kentucky have had unfettered access to the full complement of advanced cardiovascular care,” said Navin Rajagopalan, M.D., heart failure cardiologist and director of the UK Gill Affiliate Network. “Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital has a long-standing presence in the community; it's an honor to be part of a system that patients know and trust. We look forward to contributing to this legacy of excellence and ensuring that patients continue to receive the highest quality cardiovascular care."

Since joining the Gill Affiliate Network in 2017, Owensboro Health and UK HealthCare have enjoyed a strong collaborative relationship. Their partnership extends to cardiovascular imaging, where UK HealthCare provides image interpretation services for heart-valve imaging and cardiac MRIs. Additionally, Owensboro Health and UK HealthCare established a heart failure clinic, where a UK cardiologist provides specialized care at Owensboro Health Regional Hospital on a monthly basis. These collaborations ensure that patients receive high-quality cardiac care close to home. 

By joining the UK Gill Heart & Vascular Institute Affiliate Network, Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital demonstrates its commitment to elevating cardiovascular care for the communities it serves. This partnership will not only improve the quality of cardiac services for the local community, but also provide patients with access to the latest advancements and specialized expertise in cardiovascular health. 

Owensboro Health is a nonprofit health system with a mission to heal the sick and to improve the health of the communities it serves in Kentucky and Indiana. The system includes Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, nationally recognized for design, architecture and engineering and the only hospital in the world to be designated a Signature Sanctuary by Audubon International; Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital; the Owensboro Health Medical Group comprised of over 180 providers in 30 locations; three outpatient Healthplex facilities, a certified medical fitness facility; and the Mitchell Memorial Cancer Center. For more information, visit OwensboroHealth.org.

UK HealthCare is the hospitals and clinics of the University of Kentucky. But it is so much more. It is more than 10,000 dedicated health care professionals committed to providing advanced subspecialty care for the most critically injured and ill patients from the Commonwealth and beyond. It also is the home of the state’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that cares for the tiniest and sickest newborns, the region’s only Level 1 trauma center and Kentucky’s top hospital ranked by U.S. News & World Report.

As an academic research institution, we are continuously pursuing the next generation of cures, treatments, protocols and policies. Our discoveries have the potential to change what’s medically possible within our lifetimes. Our educators and thought leaders are transforming the health care landscape as our six health professions colleges teach the next generation of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals, spreading the highest standards of care. UK HealthCare is the power of advanced medicine committed to creating a healthier Kentucky, now and for generations to come.