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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia hospital is voluntarily suspending heart transplants for at least six months as it redesigns the program. Jefferson Health announced Friday that it was taking the unusual step of suspending heart transplant procedures for six to nine months. Chief Medical Officer Anne Docimo says in a statement that "every facet of health care delivery in our country is changing, and transplant care is no exception." Spokeswoman Jacqueline Kozloski tells The Philadelphia Inquirer (http://bit.ly/1Q6pgQc) the hospital is "taking a time out." Jefferson's first organ transplant was a kidney transplant 1974, and its surgeons now do more than 100 heart, kidney, liver and pancreas transplants a year. Jefferson says it is working with the United Network for Organ Sharing to ensure patients on its transplant list are transitioned to other heart transplant programs in the area while the program is offline.

Jefferson suspends heart transplant program for redesign