Heart and Vascular Institute of Wisconsin

03/16/2026

The Heart and Vascular Offices at 5045 W Grande Market in Appleton, St. Es hospital clinic and Mercy Medical Center Clinic will be closed on Monday due to the winter storm.

We will call those patients that need to be rescheduled.

03/13/2026

We are excited to announce our new Medicare Home Monitoring Program, designed to help us provide better care to you between doctor visits—right from the comfort of your home.

Through this program, if eligible, you’ll receive a health device to help you track important readings (like blood pressure or weight), and you’ll have a nurse available to support you and
work closely with our team to ensure you’re staying healthy between your office visits.

Here are just a few of the benefits:

1) If eligible, a health device (blood pressure monitor or weight scale, depending on your needs) will be sent to your home. It automatically shares your readings with us, so you won’t have to write anything down or bring it to your next appointment.
2) A nurse will check in with you by phone if your readings are outside the expected range. This way, we can catch potential issues early and help prevent any health concerns before they become bigger problems.

It's important to know that this does not replace your regular in-person office visits with us - those still happen as usual.

Patients who are qualified through their Medicare insurance will receive a letter and follow-up phone calls from us to see if you would like to enroll. If you don't hear from us in the next few days, you can call us at (920) 305-7394.

03/07/2026

It’s time once again for the annual Best of the Valley and Best of Winnebago County awards.

From March 2nd to March 23rd please consider nominating Heart and Vascular Institute for Best Cardiology Clinic/Hospital in the Beauty and Health section.

Final voting will take place May 4th to 18th.

Links to make your votes for both the Fox Cites and Winnebago County are below.

For the Appleton area: https://yourchoiceawards.com/appleton/

For Oshkosh: https://yourchoiceawards.com/oshkosh/

03/04/2026

The Heart and Vascular Institute is seeking to hire a full time RN to work in our in-office procedure department and clinic in our main Appleton office. This is a Monday-Friday daytime position - no weekends or holidays.

We are looking for a nurse with great interpersonal skills that will work as part of a team under the direction of the Cardiologist.

If interested, of if you know of someone, please apply through our posting on Indeed.

https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Heart-and-Vascular-of-Wisconsi/jobs?jk=4270ed65810cab65&start=0

02/27/2026

According to Heart and Vascular Institute cardiologist Dr. Daniel Nelson, “As we close out National Heart Month here are some insights into a common cardiovascular issue I see every day. As someone who specializes in electrophysiology my practice has many patients with Atrial Fibrillation otherwise known as Afib.

Afib is a type of heart rhythm disorder that causes your heart to beat irregularly. Normally, the heart rhythm beats in a regular and coordinated way, but in the case of atrial fibrillation, this rhythm is disrupted.

A normal resting heart rate is typically 60 to 100 beats per minute, but Afib can cause your heart to beat 100-170 beats per minute which can lead to symptoms like palpitations/irregular heartbeat, dizziness, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, fainting, or chest discomfort.

There are many potential causes for Afib and can include high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, thyroid issues, untreated sleep apnea, valvular heart disease, coronary artery disease, heart failure, advanced age, congenital defects, cardiac surgery, certain drugs, smoking, and alcohol.

Many people these days have devices such as smartwatches that can suggest Afib, but a 12-lead EKG or a multi-day Holter (or Event) Monitor are the gold standard methods a physician uses to validate Afib.

Untreated Afib can cause severe, sometimes fatal, strokes as the irregular heartbeat allows blood to pool and then clot which then can travel to the brain. In addition, Afib can lead to heart failure if the heart rate remains elevated for a prolonged time.

Fortunately, there are many treatment options available for Afib. These range from medications, blood thinners (anticoagulants), and interventional procedures such as electrical cardioversion or atrial fibrillation ablation.

For patients who are unable to take blood thinners (anticoagulants) given increased bleeding risk we can perform a procedure called the Watchman left atrial appendage occlusion device to reduce the risk of stroke.”

02/06/2026

Celebrating Go Red Day

The employees at our main Appleton office today wearing red to recognize National Go Red Day.

What was once considered Go Red For Women Day has been changed to encourage people to wear red clothing to show their support for heart health and to spark conversations about the importance of preventing heart disease in both men and women.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) continues to be the leading cause of death globally and in the U.S., claiming nearly 19.8 million lives annually worldwide and one in every three U.S. deaths.

02/05/2026

Thoughts For Heart Month

According to Heart and Vascular Institute electrophysiology cardiologist Dr. Daniel Nelson, “In recognition of National Heart Month I will be posting a few educational messages this month. Let’s start with a very interesting clinical study known as CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults).

The CARDIA study included over 5,000 participants with an average age of 25 years that were recruited between 1985 and 1986 and followed them over the course of their lives to collect data on the progression of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

What this study found is that men tend to develop CVD around 7-10 years earlier than women, with risk for men typically beginning around age 35. The study also concluded that men and women began to incur risk for stroke and heart failure a few years later around the same age.

This study strongly suggests that prevention and screening for cardiovascular disease is something to consider earlier in life, particularly for men and possibly as early as age 30. At the same time, this should not discourage women from also focusing on prevention and screening, since cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of mortality and premature death in women.

Important steps for both men and women to take would include seeing your primary care physician on an annual basis beginning in your 30’s and obtaining standard lab work for cholesterol, blood sugar levels, etc. to track over time. In addition, men age 35 and women age 40 should consider a Coronary Artery Calcium test.

Lastly, Friday, February 6th is Go Red Day so don't forget to wear red!

If you would like to read more about the CARDIA study, you can do that through this link.”
https://sites.uab.edu/cardia/

01/28/2026

Our Apologies Regarding a Phone Outage

Today we experienced an IT system issue that caused our phone system to be down from approximately 8:30 am to 1:30 pm. This also resulted in our office computers to be down at our Appleton location at 5045 W Grande Market drive.

What we were told is that this was caused by an issue at the offsite data center which hosts our IT system as well as other organizations.

We were able to see patients and do testing, although this required some old-fashioned paper documentation which will be transferred into our system now that it is back and running.

We are deeply sorry if you tried to call and could not reach us.

12/23/2025

So that our employees can enjoy some time with their families, please note that the Heart and Vascular Institute of Wisconsin offices will be closed on the following days during this holiday season.

- Wednesday, December 24th starting at noon
- Thursday, December 25th all day
- Thursday, January 1st all day

As usual, we will be seeing patients in the area Ascension and ThedaCare hospitals every day and have a physician on call for emergencies. If you are having symptoms, please call 911 and get to an emergency room.

Have a safe, joyful and healthy holidays!

12/19/2025

Be Aware of Holiday Heart Syndrome

According to Heart and Vascular Institute electrophysiology cardiologist Dr. Daniel Nelson, “Holiday heart syndrome is mostly linked with excessive alcohol consumption and other risk factors that occur this time of year. However, it isn’t only drinking that can affect the heart negatively during the holidays. Other contributing factors include an increase in sugar and salt intake that come from over-eating and consuming foods that are harder for the body to metabolize. The holidays can also result in increased stress and depression, affecting cortisol levels in the blood.

The most worrisome complication of holiday heart syndrome is Atrial Fibrillation (Afib). Studies have shown that for every 10 grams of alcohol you consume, you run a 5% higher risk of experiencing AFib. Fortunately, in most instances the irregular heartbeat of Afib resolves on its own within a few days but can last much longer. It’s important to keep in mind that any form of Afib, even if temporary, increases your risk of a stroke.

If you want to minimize the potential of holiday heart syndrome you should do the following:
• Avoid drinking alcohol altogether or try never to consume large amounts in a short period of time.
• Continue taking your medications, especially any meds for your heart or high blood pressure.
• Practice relaxation techniques and prioritize self-care to minimize stress.
• Monitor your heart health and look for symptoms such as an irregular heartbeat or shortness of breath.
• Stay active with regular physical activity.
• Practice good sleep habits.

The holidays can be a dangerous time for your heart. If you are having symptoms, be safe and go see a physician or head to the ER. “

12/04/2025

Apologies to our patients

We have been having problems with our phone system (3CX) for the past few days. Sometimes an incoming call can be answered but we cannot hear the caller or we answer a call and the person calling cannot hear us. The most significant issue occured this past Monday when our phone system was down for 6 hours.

We have replaced our phones, rebooted the 3CX system and installed a new internet provider (since like many corporate phone systems these days, 3CX is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone system that uses an internet connection to make and receive calls instead of traditional landlines.

Our IT partner (Ideal Technologies) is working to resolve these issues and we still are have some lingering issues.

Thank you for being patient with us. We will do what it takes to find a permanent fix.

Larry Sobal, CEO
Heart and Vascular Institute of Wisconsin

10/14/2025

We Are Back In Network With UnitedHealthcare Insuranced Patients!

Today, Ascension and UnitedHeathcare announced that they have reached a contractual agreement, ending their 14-day dispute.

As we reported last week, the Heart and Vascular Institute has an arrangement with Ascension so that we function under their insurance contracts. Therefore, on October 1st when the contract between Ascension and United was not renewed, the Heart Institute temporarily was out of network for United Patients.

Fortunately, the conttract between Ascension and United has been renewed. In addition, the contract will consider all patient encounters going back to October 1st as in-network.

With today's announcement you no longer need to submit any continuity or care applications.

We would like to extend our thanks to our patients for being understanding that HVI was caught in the middle of this dispute. Of course, we also thank Ascension and United for reaching agreement so we can go back to treating United patients!

The new contract between Ascension Wisconsin and UnitedHealthcare was announced on Oct. 14 and is effective immediately.