Avera’s Planet Heart screening is like the dashboard on your car.
“During the screening, your body’s check engine light may appear,” said Mick Gibbs, CEO of Avera Heart Hospital. “Our new location is helping more people distinguish between what’s urgent and what’s not an immediate concern.”
Avera screens between 4,000 and 5,000 people a year across 26 Planet Heart locations in South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska. “This service gives you a comprehensive health risk appraisal at a very reasonable price,” Gibbs said.
Accessibility is all important in health care, and the Sioux Falls retail location for Avera’s Planet Heart screenings on West 69th Street has improved accessibility since it opened in the summer of 2024.
The cost of Planet Heart is not run through insurance, however some Avera Health Plans insurance products cover Planet Heart as a free wellness benefit. People can also often use their flex dollars to cover this screening. Yet the $125 cost for both heart, vascular and thoracic screenings is something most anyone can afford. In fact, Avera sells gift certificates.
“It’s a wonderful way for someone to say to their loved one, ‘you’re my entire world and I want you to be around for the future,’” Gibbs said. It’s also a perk employers can consider offering to employees and leaders who fit age guidelines.
What is a Planet Heart Cardiovascular Screening?
Planet Heart follows American College of Cardiologists guidelines in recommending heart and vascular screenings for men beginning at age 40 and women beginning at age 45. Frequency depends on risk factors, but for most people, the recommendation is every five to 10 years.
The combined screening includes blood tests for glucose and cholesterol, blood pressure, CT calcium scoring, vascular ultrasounds and lung/abdominal screening. A high CT calcium score which detects calcium deposits in coronary arteries can assess risk for cardiovascular disease. There’s also opportunity to get a polygenic risk score for cardiovascular disease. An important aspect of the screening is discussion with the nurse about risk factors.
Planet Heart is designed to find cardiovascular disease risk, stroke risk, vascular aneurysm or peripheral arterial disease. Yet the screening has saved lives in other ways. “Incidentally, we have found potential spots of cancer as all our images are read by a board-certified radiologist.”
Referrals for Cardiovascular Specialty Care
If the Planet Heart screening does find something, there’s a natural referral path within North Central Heart and Avera. “We also screen non-Avera patients and share the findings and referral recommendations with the primary care provider and patient,” Gibbs said.
While primary care is the most common follow-up for patients, cardiologists, interventional/structural cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons or vascular/endovascular surgeons are specialty referrals after an abnormal Planet Heart finding. A patient may need further testing, medications, or in some cases a cardiac catheterization lab intervention.
While not addressed as part of Planet Heart, North Central Heart also has a team of electrophysiologists who diagnose and treat irregular heart rhythms.
“There are plenty of examples where we caught a medical catastrophe before it happened,” Gibbs added.
Yet most people walk away from a Planet Heart screening with peace of mind, or a recommendation to modify lifestyle factors like diet and exercise.
“My father died at 55 of heart disease, but my grandfather still had a healthy heart at age 95,” Gibbs said. “My Planet Heart screening suggests that I don’t have coronary artery disease – so I have lower cardiac risk like my grandpa. Before I went through Planet Heart, I was uncertain and didn’t have reassurance. Now I do.”
Take the Next Step Toward Heart Health
