Should You Have More Than One Cardiologist?

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Karlee Hoffman, DO:

Hi, I'm Karlee Hoffman. I'm one of the advanced heart failure cardiologists here at Cleveland Clinic. Oftentimes, I get asked, "What is a cardiologist?" A cardiologist is a specialist who takes care of specific cardiac disease. And this can range from anything from atrial fibrillation to hypertension to heart failure. And fortunately, here at the Cleveland Clinic, we have many subspecialties. And I think this is where we really shine because we have a subspecialist of everything.

So if you have atrial fibrillation or you need a specific pacemaker, a defibrillator, we have an electrophysiologist to take care of that. And these are the specific electric doctors, as I like to call them, who take care of these types of diseases. Then, like myself, we have heart failure doctors and I take care of heart failure, advanced heart failure patients who may need a heart pump like an LVAD or a transplant. And then we also have amazing preventative cardiologists and general cardiologists who take care of high cholesterol, known as hyperlipidemia and high blood pressure, known as hypertension. I always tell my patients, "We are so fortunate here at the Cleveland Clinic to have subspecialists for everything. So if you have a cardiac problem, we have a subspecialist to take care of that for you."

Another question I get asked often is, "How do you choose the right doctor for you?" And I think this is a really complicated question, and I always say, "You know when you know." So you have to be comfortable with your provider, and you have to be comfortable with the care that they're giving and the care that you're receiving.

And one of my main goals always with a patient is to make sure that the patient is in the center of any decision that we make for their care because I can give great medical advice, I can give you all the evidence behind it, but at the end of the day, the patient is the one who has to choose what they want to do and also be the ones who live with this every day. So I think it comes down to a very personal decision, and you know when the right doctor is there for you to help you through this really complex medical decision-making process.

Oftentimes, patients ask questions too, "Is it okay to get a second opinion?" And my blanket statement to that is, "If you have a good doctor, they will not care if you get a second opinion." Because even myself, when patients ask to see one of my colleagues or somebody else, I'm more than open to get an extra set of eyes, an extra set of ears on this complex patient. So I think if you have a great doctor, they will be understanding and want you to get a second opinion. In my mind, second opinions are always good. Some of the patients that I see at Cleveland Clinic come as a second opinion or come as even a third or a fourth opinion, and we often do share care with their original providers. I always say, "It's great to have your doctor locally, and then it's great to have us as an extra set of eyes and overseeing your care." And we do this seamlessly with most of our patients.

I always say, "Coming to Cleveland Clinic, we're so fortunate to have a subspecialist for everything." So when you come here, you might have three cardiologists taking specialized care of all three cardiac conditions that you have, but the key is having that team of cardiologists work together as a multidisciplinary team to advance your care and make sure you feel better and have a better quality of life. That's our goal, is to make you feel better.

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