Healthcare Insights
Top U.S. hospitals performing heart transplants
The volume of heart transplant procedures performed in the U.S. has been steadily increasing each year for the past 11 years. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), 2022 marked a 68% increase in heart transplants from the year prior.
Let’s take a look at where in the United States most of these procedures are happening.
How many hospitals in the U.S. do heart transplants?
Definitive Healthcare tracks more than 110 hospitals that have performed one or more heart transplants in 2024.
Using the Definitive Healthcare Atlas All-Payor Claims dataset, we ranked the top 20 hospitals with the greatest volume of heart transplant procedures in 2024. The data represents the percentage of all heart transplants within that time frame performed in U.S. hospitals tracked by Definitive Healthcare.
| Rank | Definitive ID | Hospital name | State | Percent of transplants in the U.S. | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3742 | Vanderbilt University Medical Center | TN | 3.80% | Explore |
| 2 | 430 | Cedars-Sinai Medical Center | CA | 2.90% | Explore |
| 3 | 2973 | Duke University Hospital | NC | 2.80% | Explore |
| 4 | 998 | Piedmont Atlanta Hospital (AKA Piedmont Hospital) | GA | 2.30% | Explore |
| 5 | 274163 | NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center | NY | 2.00% | Explore |
| 6 | 550 | UC San Diego Medical Center | CA | 2.00% | Explore |
| 7 | 395 | Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center | CA | 1.90% | Explore |
| 8 | 3003 | Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center | NC | 1.80% | Explore |
| 9 | 588 | Stanford Hospital - 300 Pasteur Dr | CA | 1.70% | Explore |
| 10 | 4374 | UW Medical Center - Montlake | WA | 1.70% | Explore |
| 11 | 2800 | NYU Langone Hospital - Brooklyn (FKA NYU Lutheran Medical Center) | NY | 1.70% | Explore |
| 12 | 642 | UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital | CO | 1.70% | Explore |
| 13 | 2191 | Mayo Clinic Hospital - Saint Marys Campus | MN | 1.70% | Explore |
| 14 | 551803 | UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion | CA | 1.60% | Explore |
| 15 | 3120 | Cleveland Clinic Main Campus | OH | 1.60% | Explore |
| 16 | 1966 | Tufts Medical Center | MA | 1.50% | Explore |
| 17 | 1914 | The Johns Hopkins Hospital | MD | 1.50% | Explore |
| 18 | 792 | Mayo Clinic Hospital - Florida | FL | 1.50% | Explore |
| 19 | 977 | Emory University Hospital | GA | 1.40% | Explore |
| 20 | 4012 | Houston Methodist Hospital (FKA the Methodist Hospital) | TX | 1.30% | Explore |
Fig 1. Data is from the Definitive Healthcare Atlas All-Payor Claims dataset. Percentages represent the percent of total heart transplants performed in 2024. Data accessed June 2025.
Which hospitals do the most heart transplants?
The U.S. hospital that performed the most heart transplants in 2024 was Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Located in Tennessee, this facility performed 3.8% of heart transplants in 2024.
In second place is Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California. This hospital performed 2.90% of heart transplants in 2024. Duke University Hospital came in third place with 2.80% of heart transplants performed in 2024.
Advancements in heart xenotransplants
One facility to note in the list above is the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. This facility performed the first-ever pig-to-human heart transplantation. The successful surgery, which gave the transplant recipient an additional 60 days of life before complications led to heart failure, is a medical milestone in the field of xenotransplantation, the process of transplanting live nonhuman cells, tissues, or organs into a human body.
Check out Definitive Healthcare’s podcast Definitively Speaking to hear from Dr. Muhammad Mohuddin, director of xenotransplantation at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who oversaw the groundbreaking medical advancement.
Learn more
Healthcare Insights are developed with data from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Start a free trial for more hospital and procedure insights, and check out our list of top hospitals performing the most kidney transplants or liver transplants.
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