Four Cardiologists Among Our "Best Doctors"

Lehigh Valley, Pa. (April 10, 2008) - Four cardiologists who treat patients at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (LVHHN) are included on the "Best Doctors in America" list for 2007-2008. They are Ronald S. Freudenberger, M.D., J. Patrick Kleaveland, M.D., Norman Marcus, M.D., and Joseph Neri, D.O., and are among the 60 LVHHN physicians in 30 specialties that appear on the list.

The "Best Doctors in America" list, created by Best Doctors, Inc., results from a confidential polling of physicians in the United States who are on the previous "Best Doctors in America" list. They are asked, "If you or a loved one needed a doctor in your specialty, to whom would you refer?" Doctors in over 400 subspecialties of medicine appear on this year's list, representing only 5 percent of doctors in the country. They are included on a database of experts made available to individuals through employee benefits plans and insurance programs.

Freudenberger, medical director of LVHHN's Center for Advanced Heart Failure, and Kleaveland, medical director of the cardiac catheterization lab at LVH-Cedar Crest, are members of Lehigh Valley Heart Specialists. Marcus, who specializes in electrophysiology, and Neri, whose expertise is in advanced cardiac testing and critical care, are members of The Heart Care Group.

Doctors cannot pay to be included on the Best Doctors list, nor are they paid to provide their input. The list results from validated peer review, in which doctors who excel in their specialties are chosen.

According to Best Doctors, Inc., the experts who are part of the Best Doctors database provide the most advanced medical knowledge to patients with serious conditions. In addition of cardiology, experts from LVHHN named on the "Best Doctors in America" list practice in the following subspecialties: allergy and immunology, internal medicine, neurology, psychiatry, family medicine, pediatrics and others.

A premier academic community hospital, Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network comprises three hospital facilities - two in Allentown and one in Bethlehem, Pa. and Lehigh Valley Health Services, providing home health, hospice, pharmaceutical and health management services. In 2007, US News & World Report named Lehigh Valley Hospital one of America's Best Hospitals in six categories - heart care/heart surgery; digestive disorders; cancer care, endocrinology, geriatrics and gynecology.

LVHHN's advanced regional resources include a Level I Trauma Center with added pediatric qualifications; a regional referral center for critical care burn patients; national certification as a Primary Stroke Center; the largest cancer program in the region and fourth largest in Pennsylvania; and an Advanced ICU with tele-intensivists to provide an extra level of care for critical care patients. One of Pennsylvania's largest teaching hospitals and a major teaching campus of Penn State's College of Medicine, LVHHN is also a regional resource for kidney and pancreas transplants, perinatal/neonatal care and neurology and complex neurosurgery.

All three LVHHN hospitals are designated national Magnet hospitals for excellence in nursing.