The Advanced Cardiac Therapies for Heart Failure Patients (ACT-HF) program is part of the world-leading Cardiac Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Our heart failure team is one of the most experienced in the country. We are dedicated to providing your child with the best possible pediatric heart failure treatment and care.

Our Cardiac Center team are world leaders in the treatment of pediatric heart conditions. We are proud to be ranked one of the top pediatric cardiology programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek. Our cardiologists have advanced training and experience in caring for children and adolescents with all types of cardiac disorders.

We offer:

Innovative care

Our research team is working to develop new ways to use devices that help the heart function better (mechanical circulatory support), such as ventricular assist devices (VAD). These devices help stabilize children with heart failure who are waiting for a heart transplant. In some cases, a VAD can allow a child's heart to recover enough that a transplant isn't necessary. Our goal is to continue to discover new ways of treating children with heart failure, as well as medicine that may one day be able to prevent heart failure altogether.

A dedicated place for dedicated care

CHOP's Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) is one of the largest intensive care units for children in the country, with expertise in treating children with complex congenital heart disease. Our CICU includes a dedicated Heart Failure Intensive Care Unit, one of only two in the country. This provides a dedicated place — with a dedicated team of surgical, medical, rehabilitation and ICU experts — where your child can access all the services they need in one place.

Advanced rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is an important part of the ACT-HF Program. Our Program offers our own ACT-HF Rehab Program, where our team of multidisciplinary experts will evaluate your child’s individual needs and set rehabilitation goals for their continued recovery.  Rehabilitation will help your child develop and maintain “functional skills,” or the skills needed in daily life. The program also supports your child’s physical, cognitive and developmental needs during hospitalization. This type of rehabilitation, in addition to physical and occupational therapy, helps make sure children with VADs are as healthy as possible for heart transplants.