About Us
 The Fred and Lena Meijer Heart Center opened in 2004. It has become a leader in heart care in the region, state and nation and remains the only hospital in Grand Rapids that provides open heart surgery.
The Meijer Heart Center is equipped with state-of-the-art medical and information technology. We also have great clinical teams in caring for all aspects of the heart, including heart rhythms and blood vessels.
Our facility:
- Covers eight stories and 330,00 square feet
- Has 164 patient beds
- Has a medical staff of more than 50 specialists
- Serves more than 8,500 inpatients each year
- Maintains the area's only 24-hour chest pain center
Choose Meijer Heart Center
When your doctor refers you for heart care, make sure it is to the Meijer Heart Center. When you request the Meijer Heart Center, you are asking for the best.
Successful Results: Most people want to go to a hospital that has the best outcomes. "Outcomes" in health care mean "results." The bottom line is whether the patient's medical problem is successfully resolved. At Meijer Heart Center, our outcomes are among the finest in the nation. Consider our success in treating clogged hearts and blood vessels, heart failure, repairing the heart's electrical functions and coronary artery bypass surgery. We invite you to view quality reports on heart attacks, open heart surgery and heart failure.
Comprehensive Services and In-Hospital Support: Other reasons to choose Meijer Heart Center are our comprehensive services and superior in-hospital support. Many heart patients also have diabetes or kidney problems. These additional medical problems—called comorbidities—place patients at higher risk of complications. At smaller hospitals with fewer services, there is always the possibility of being transferred mid-stay to a better equipped facility. Meijer Heart Center has heart specialists available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The fact is, many area hospitals depend on Meijer Heart Center. Each year, about 20 percent of our patients are transferred to us from other area hospitals because we're better equipped and more successful.
Great Value: Value is another reason to visit Meijer Heart Center. When compared to hospitals of similar size, our costs are consistently among the lowest 25 percent nationwide. This translates into charges that are significantly less than those of other hospitals.
In fact, our charges are some of the lowest in Michigan for heart (coronary) bypass and angioplasty (balloon) procedures— the two most common heart procedures.
Download "What You Need to Know When Your Heart Needs Help" for an overview of Meijer Heart Center services.
History
We have been trailblazers in cardiovascular care for nearly 50 years. Highlights include:
- 1958: West Michigan's first open-heart surgery 1969: West Michigan's first coronary artery bypass
- 1980: West Michigan's first balloon angioplasty
- 1989: West Michigan's first implanted defibrillator
- 2003: Among first in the state to introduce drug-eluting stents
- 2004: State's first accredited 24/7 chest pain center
- 2004: One of the first in the nation equipped with 3-D X-ray equipment for three-dimensional cardiovascular imaging
- 2004: Fred and Lena Meijer Heart Center opens its doors
- 2006: West Michigan's first cardiovascular genetics program
- 2008: First surgeons in West Michigan to repair defective heart valves robotically
- 2008: West Michigan's first Impella miniature heart pump introduced in high-risk angioplasties
- 2009: Stereotaxis magnetic catheter navigation introduced
- 2009: West Michigan's first ventricular assist devices (VADs) implanted for heart failure patients as a planned "bridge" to heart transplant
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