The cardiology service at National Jewish Health combines outpatient clinic on the Denver campus with optional inpatient and procedural work at Intermountain Saint Joseph Hospital. The clinical environment is built around a multidisciplinary team that includes electrophysiology, heart failure, cardiac surgery, intensivists, and pulmonary specialists. The incoming cardiologist will see a mix of general cardiology and high-complexity referrals, with room to grow into a focused subspecialty area over time.
National Jewish Health draws patients who often present with more complexity than a typical community cardiology referral base. Common referral categories include:
Roughly 30 percent of cardiology patients have historically come from outside Colorado for tertiary or second-opinion care. New patient wait times across the division currently run six weeks or longer.
The Denver campus supports a full outpatient cardiology workup with on-site imaging and procedural capability:
Interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, and cardiac surgery are physically housed at the Intermountain Saint Joseph Hospital campus, with care delivered through a joint operating agreement. Available services include:
The division runs several focused programs that the incoming cardiologist may participate in or help grow:
| Call Type | Frequency | Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| National Jewish on-campus | Daytime and overnight rotation | Built into base salary |
| Intermountain Saint Joseph weekday | About 1 weekday per month | Paid additionally |
| Intermountain Saint Joseph weekend | 4 to 6 weekends per year | Paid additionally |
| Holiday | About 1 holiday per year | Paid additionally |
Call is light in practice. National Jewish call rarely results in overnight contact; most queries are handled through Epic messaging by the in-house nursing supervisor. At Intermountain Saint Joseph, a separate interventional call team handles cath lab emergencies and STEMIs, so the general cardiologist on call is rarely required to come in overnight.
The inpatient cardiology service at Intermountain Saint Joseph operates as a consultative service rather than a primary admitting service, with hospitalist or critical care teams retaining primary management. Census typically runs 8 to 20 patients. The CCU is a multidisciplinary unit run jointly by ICU, cardiology, cardiac surgery, pharmacy, and palliative care, with 24/7 attending coverage.
Support on inpatient rounds includes:
The division uses advanced practice providers across both clinic and inpatient services:
Epic across National Jewish Health and Intermountain Saint Joseph Hospital, allowing shared records and reduced cross-system handoff calls.
National Jewish Health is the academic affiliate of the University of Colorado School of Medicine. The division supports cardiology fellow interaction, internal medicine resident rounding, and an academic-style clinical environment. Research opportunities are open to incoming physicians: