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Monday, June 04, 2007

UMC Receives American Heart Association Achievement Award

Get With The Guidelines–Coronary Artery Disease Annual Performance Achievement Award recognizes excellence in secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease and primary prevention of stroke

University Medical Center (UMC) recently received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines–Coronary Artery Disease (GWTG-CAD) Annual Performance Achievement Award.

The award recognizes UMC’s commitment and success for 12 consecutive months in implementing a higher standard of cardiac care that effectively improves treatment of patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease.

To receive the award, UMC consistently complied for 12 months with the requirements in the GWTG–CAD program. Under the GWTG–CAD program, patients are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers in the hospital and receive smoking cessation and weight management counseling and referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before they are discharged. Hospitals that receive the award have demonstrated that during 12 consecutive months at least 85 percent of its eligible coronary patients (without contraindications) are discharged following the American Heart Association’s recommended treatments.

“The American Heart Association applauds UMC for its success in implementing the appropriate standards of care and protocols to reduce the number of recurrent events in coronary patients,” said Gregg Fonarow, M.D., the American Heart Association volunteer chairman for the national Get With The GuidelinesSM. “UMC is well above the national average in terms of implementing these life-saving treatments.”

Projections have shown that implementation of cardiovascular disease secondary prevention guidelines nationwide, as promoted in the GWTG–CAD program, could result in saving more than 80,000 lives each year.

“UMC is dedicated to making our cardiac unit among the best in the country, and the American Heart Association’s Get With The GuidelinesSM program is helping us accomplish that by making it easier for our professionals to improve the long-term outcomes of our cardiac patients,” said Kathy Silver, interim CEO for UMC. “We are pleased to be recognized for our dedication and achievements in cardiac care.”

The American Heart Association’s GWTG–CAD program is designed to increase the use of and adherence to the association’s secondary prevention guidelines for coronary artery disease. Developed to assist healthcare professionals follow proven standards and procedures before patients are discharged, GWTG–CAD can help UMC reduce the risk of recurrent heart attacks and death in treated patients. The program, which works by mobilizing teams in acute care hospitals to implement American Heart Association / American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines, was developed with support from an unrestricted educational grant from Merck & Co., Inc.

According to the American Heart Association, more than 450,000 people suffer recurrent heart attacks each year. Statistics also show that within one year of an attack, 25 percent of men and 38 percent of women will die. Within six years after a heart attack, about 22 percent of men and 46 percent of women will be disabled with heart failure.

The American Heart Association’s Get With The GuidelinesSM program is being implemented in hospitals around the country. For more information on Get With The GuidelinesSM, visit americanheart.org/getwiththeguidelines.

Contact Information:
Cheryl Persinger
(702) 383-3860
Cheryl.Persinger@umcsn.com
University Medical Center
1800 West Charleston Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89102