The Ventura Heart Institute's mission is to provide patients with optimal and cost effective early detection evaluations, cardiovascular risk assessments, and tailored prevention strategies to reduce the risk of having their first or subsequent cardiovascular event. The Ventura Heart Institute was originally created as a separate department within HCA Los Robles Regional Medical Center in 1987 and remained in the hospital until 1998.  It now is a completely independent entity that has consulted with hospitals and healthcare systems on the disease management of high risk and high cost cardiovascular patients  The clinical implementation of wellness and prevention strategies at the level of primary healthcare providers as we move to Value Based Care, Accountable Care Organizations and Patient-Centered Medical Homes have been other consulting arenas.

VHI screened thousands of individuals for evidence of heart disease, provided heart disease education programs to the public as well as high level professional education programs to physicians and health care providers nationally and regionally. The Institute participated in over one hundred and sixty research projects that have expanded the drug options to care for many high risk heart patients with elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart failure, irregular heart beats, and those with balloon dilation of tight heart blood vessels. Dr. Irving Kent Loh, VHI's director, also believes that optimal clinical care follows the evidence-based guidelines that come from strong research, diagnostic and teaching platforms exemplified by the programs and services of the Ventura Heart Institute.  Because of Dr. Loh's activities in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, telehealth in the Americas and Asia, and clinical research network development, the clinical practice has been phased downward but is still accepting new patients.

Another major focus of the Ventura Heart Institute is the application of information technology to optimize the management of diseases. The best care for many high risk patient groups has been outlined by several expert panels, yet the ability of providers to deliver that care has many barriers. The pragmatic harnessing of constantly evolving information technology to ensure the best quality and outcome is a cornerstone of surmounting many of these barriers.  Dr. Loh was the recipient of an international grant from the London-based Future Forum to explore the use of information technology to improve quality and outcome of patient care.  He has presented on this subject in conferences, webcasts, for the American Heart Association's Quality of Care Forum, the University of California - Berkeley (co-sponsored by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society - CITRIS) and the School of Public Health, and in Boston at the Inaugural America-China Health Summit sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health.  Dr. Loh is the Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of Infermedica (www.infermedica.com), an "artificial intelligence in medicine" company focused on clinical decision support to help patients and assist healthcare providers come to efficient and accurate assessment of clinical symptoms and triage.  Infermedica is deployed in over thirty countries and operates in 18 languages.  We are part of the Microsoft Health Hub and our clients include Optum, Allianz, Providence, Transcarent and others.

However, in consulting with patients and their physicians, the Ventura Heart Institute believes that the best treatment of cardiovascular disease is in early detection of cardiovascular disease and prevention of future or recurrent events by using the best proven and evidence-based methods available.