About Flow Therapy

20+ years. 50,000+ patients. One mission.

We’re a physician-led, physician-owned cardiology practice with a singular focus: making EECP, a Medicare-covered, non-invasive treatment for angina, heart failure, and chronic coronary disease, accessible to the patients who need it most. No stents. No surgery. Just an evidence-based protocol that’s been changing lives since 2003.

20+ Years in practice

50,000+ Patients treated

11 Clinics across TX, NC & GA

Why we exist

EECP works. Most cardiologists never mention it.

When we opened our first clinic in 2003, EECP was already FDA-cleared, Medicare-covered, and supported by decades of clinical evidence. Yet most patients with angina and heart failure were never told it existed, pushed instead toward stents, bypass, or “just live with it.”

We exist to close that gap. Every patient with qualifying CAD deserves to know EECP is an option, before they’re rushed into an invasive procedure, and after, if symptoms persist.

No referral pressure. No quotas. Just the most experienced EECP team in the country, helping patients make informed decisions about their hearts.

“

If EECP were a pill, it would be on every cardiac formulary in America. The only thing keeping it from becoming the standard of care is a delivery system worthy of the therapy. That’s Flow Therapy.

— Dr. Gibson

A message from the founder

Why we built Flow Therapy.

Flow Therapy was founded out of a deeply personal experience and a profound need to transform the way we care for patients with chronic heart conditions.

In 2003, my grandfather, who had undergone two quadruple bypass surgeries still struggled with basic tasks due to his heart condition.

It was while I was pursuing options for him that I discovered EECP therapy, a non-invasive treatment that changed his life.

After completing the therapy, he was able to return to the activities he enjoyed, and never went back to the hospital for chest pain again. This remarkable transformation inspired me to make this life-changing therapy accessible to more patients.

Historically, the delivery system of EECP therapy was inefficient and inhibited access to care. Often, with only one treatment unit in a large group practice or on a hospital campus, patients often struggled to complete the standard course of 35 treatments, and often lacked the patient-centric wrap-around program to educate and engage patients on a post-EECP care plan, resulting in mixed clinical outcomes. Flow Therapy was created to fix this problem.

We recognized the importance to view the 35-visit regimen and the potential of a patient-centric education and engagement regimen as an opportunity to improve health across several channels.

Our dedicated, center-of-excellence model ensures the highest quality of care for EECP therapy. A meticulous approach to every detail of the program has supported strong treatment completion and engagement across more than 50,000 patients. This adherence leads to robust clinical outcomes that not only improve the quality of life for our patients but also reduce preventable downstream costs. At Flow Therapy, we are passionate about providing better care and transforming lives, one patient at a time, as though they are family.

Thank you for your partnership as together we unlock the value and impact of Flow Therapy for all patients.

Board of Directors

Cardiologist-led. Patient-first.

We’re a physician-owned practice, guided by a board of accomplished healthcare and business leaders.

Michael Gratch

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Michael Gratch founded Flow Therapy (previously known as Legacy Heart Care) in 2003, in response to a recognized need for broader availability of a non-invasive treatment to the chronic ischemic population. Through his guidance and leadership, Flow Therapy has grown to be the nation’s largest provider of EECP treatments, as well as the recognized leader in quality.

Michael served as an Executive Vice President at PhysAssist Scribe from 2010 through 2011. He was recognized as one of North Texas’ “40 under 40” in 2006 and has also been an active member of YPO since 2013.

Michael graduated from Dartmouth College in 2002 and earned All-Ivy League recognition on the football team.

James D. Shelton

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James D. Shelton joined the Flow Therapy board in 2013, having served and shaped the healthcare industry throughout his thirty-year career. From 1998 through 2007, Mr. Shelton served as the Chairman and CEO of Triad Hospitals, taking the company from its initial formation to a position as the third largest healthcare provider in the US, prior to its sale in 2007.

Prior to Triad Hospitals, Mr. Shelton was President of the Central Group of Columbia/HCA, where he had responsibility for 107 hospitals and 45 ambulatory surgery centers between 1993 and 1998. Beginning in 1986, Mr. Shelton served as a hospital administrator in multiple different states and was both Senior Vice President and Executive Vice President at National Medical Enterprises.

Mr. Shelton served on the Board of the Federation of American Hospitals for ten years (1991-2001) and as its Chairman in 1999. He served a three-year term on the Board of the American Hospital Association (2004-2006), during which he was a member of the executive committee. From 2001 through 2006 and again in 2008, he was recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the 100 most influential people in healthcare in America.

In addition to his role on the Flow Therapy board, Mr. Shelton serves on the boards of three publicly traded companies, Omnicare, Inc. (NYSE: OCR), Ventas (NYSE: VTR), and Envision (NYSE: EVHC). At Omnicare, Mr. Shelton serves as the Chairman of the Board. He is also the Board Chairman of the Four Corners Global Outreach project, and serves as a senior advisor to CCMP, a private equity firm in New York.

A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, James D. Shelton received his B.A. in history from LSU in 1975 and an M.S. from the Graduate School of Public Administration (now the Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs) at the University of Missouri, Columbia in 1977. In 2005, he was inducted into the LSU Alumni Hall of Distinction.

John Wagner

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John Wagner was appointed to the Flow Therapy Board of Directors in 2012, and has been a key figure in the development of the organization’s long range planning. Mr. Wagner is co-founder and managing partner of Trinity Investment Group, LLC. Prior to forming Trinity, Mr. Wagner was the CFO of a private equity owned healthcare IT Company, Healthcare Payment Specialists.

Mr. Wagner was a partner with Walker Smith Capital, a long/short equity hedge fund, from 2003 to 2012 where he was responsible for investments within the healthcare industry. Prior to Walker Smith, he worked in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at UBS as an associate and as an analyst in the Corporate Finance Group at Bank of America. In addition to serving on the Flow Therapy board, Mr. Wagner serves as a Member of the Board of Advanced Plan for Health, and is a member of the Salesmanship Club of Dallas.

John Wagner graduated from the University of Texas with a BBA in Finance.

Dr. C. Michael Gibson

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A globally renowned cardiologist, Dr. C. Michael Gibson has revolutionized the field through groundbreaking contributions such as developing the TIMI Frame Count and TIMI Flow Grade, advancing the quantification of coronary blood flow. Gibson was named one of 50 Most Influential Voices In Healthcare by Medika Life in 2021 and his research has been cited over 148,000 times.

Dr. Gibson is a practicing interventional cardiologist at Beth Israel Lahey Health who has held numerous leadership positions in medicine including as a Coronary Care Unit Director, a Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Director, a Chief of Cardiology and as a Vice Chairman of Medicine at a hospital of over 1,000 physicians. His extraordinary career also includes serving as a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ClinicalTrialResults.org and the Wiki Doc Foundation, Founder and Chairman of the PERFUSE Study Group, and CEO of the BAIM Institute for Clinical Research where he has led phase 1-4 clinical trials, and cardiology megatrials of over 30,000 patients.

For years, Gibson has been chosen as one of Boston’s Top Doctors and U.S. News & World Report also lists him as one of America’s top doctors. In addition, Gibson is an accomplished artist whose work is held in numerous collections.

What we stand for

Four principles that drive every decision we make.

01

Evidence over enthusiasm

We don’t recommend EECP because we love it. We recommend it because 25+ randomized trials, the MUST-EECP study, and our own outcomes registry show it works for the patients we treat. When the evidence doesn’t support EECP for a particular patient, we say so.

02

Patient comes first, always

If EECP isn’t right for you, we’ll tell you, and we’ll help connect you to the right care. We’ve referred patients to Cleveland Clinic, Mayo, and local interventional cardiologists when their case called for it. That’s the job.

03

Cost transparency

No surprise bills. No “we’ll figure it out later.” Every patient gets a written cost estimate before session one, with insurance verification details and any out-of-pocket clearly stated. If anything changes mid-course, you’ll know before the next session.

04

Long-term relationships

We’re not a one-time service provider. Many of our patients come back for booster courses years later, send their family members in, or refer their cardiologist colleagues. That only happens if we got the first experience right.

About the practice

Questions about Flow Therapy specifically.

Are you affiliated with a hospital or health system?

No, and intentionally so. Flow Therapy is an independent physician-owned practice. We collaborate closely with referring cardiologists at every major health system in our markets (Baylor Scott & White, UT Southwestern, Methodist, Atrium, Novant, and others), but we are not owned by or financially tied to any of them. This independence is what lets us recommend EECP, or against it, without institutional conflicts.

Is this a franchise or part of a chain?

No. All eleven Flow Therapy clinics are owned and operated by the same physician-led organization. Every staff member is a Flow Therapy employee (not a contractor or franchisee), every clinic follows the same protocols, and every patient case is reviewed by the same medical director. Consistency across clinics is one of the things our patients tell us they value most.

What makes Flow Therapy different from other EECP providers?

Three things: (1) Scale & experience: 50,000+ patients treated means we’ve seen virtually every clinical scenario; (2) Dedicated focus: EECP is the only treatment we offer, so it’s not an afterthought to a stent program; (3) Centralized verification: our intake team has run insurance for every major payor in our markets thousands of times, so denials and delays are rare.

Do you publish your outcomes?

Yes. We maintain an internal patient registry tracking pre-/post-treatment angina class, exercise tolerance, hospitalization rates, and quality-of-life scores. Aggregate outcomes are reviewed annually and align closely with the published EECP literature (75-80% of patients show meaningful symptom improvement). Detailed registry data is available on request to referring physicians and qualified researchers.

Where are your clinics located?

Eleven clinics across three states: DFW (Dallas, Plano, McKinney, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie), Central Texas (Austin, Round Rock), South Texas (San Antonio, Live Oak), North Carolina (Charlotte), and Georgia. See all locations with addresses and phone numbers.

Can I tour a clinic before committing?

Absolutely, and we recommend it. Tours are free, take about 20 minutes, and include meeting the medical staff and seeing the EECP equipment. Many patients tour multiple clinics to find the most convenient location. Call 877.778.FLOW (3569) or use the consultation form to schedule.

Still on the fence?

A short call could change how you feel about your heart.

No surgery talk. No commitment. Just answers from the team that has helped 50,000+ patients regain energy, walk further, and feel like themselves again.

Have us call you Call your nearest clinic

50,000+

patients treated

11

clinic locations

20+

years in practice