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Friday, July 25, 2008

UMC receives American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines Silver Performance Achievement Award

University Medical Center (UMC) has received the Get With The GuidelinesSM-Heart Failure (GWTG–HF) Silver Performance Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The recognition signifies that UMC has reached an aggressive goal of treating heart failure patients with 85% compliance for one year to core standard levels of care as outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines for heart failure patients.

Get With The Guidelines is a quality improvement initiative that provides hospital staff with tools that follow proven evidence-based guidelines and procedures in caring for heart failure patients to prevent future hospitalizations. According to GWTG–HF treatment guidelines, heart failure patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, diuretics and anticoagulants in the hospital. They also receive alcohol/drug use and thyroid management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before being discharged.

“The full implementation of national heart failure guideline recommended care is a critical step in preventing recurrent hospitalizations and prolonging the lives of heart failure patients,” said Gregg C Fonarow, M.D., National Chairman of the GWTG Steering Committee and director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center. “The goal of the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines program is to help hospitals like UMC implement appropriate evidence-based care and protocols that will reduce disability and the number of deaths in these patients.”

According to the American Heart Association, about 5.2 million people suffer from heart failure. Statistics also each year more than 57,000 people will die of heart failure.

“UMC is dedicated to making our care for heart failure patients among the best in the country. We will continue in our efforts and build off the success of this award by continued implementation of the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines–Heart Failure program that allowed us to accomplish this goal,” said Kathy Silver, UMC chief executive officer.

GWTG–Heart Failure helps UMC’s staff develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes. The program includes quality-improvement measures such as care maps, discharge protocols, standing orders and measurement tools. This quick and efficient use of guideline tools will enable UMC to improve the quality of care it provides heart failure patients, save lives and ultimately, reduce healthcare costs by lowering the recurrence of heart attacks.

The program mobilizes teams in acute care hospitals to implement American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines.

Contact Information:
Cheryl Persinger
(702) 383-3987
Cheryl.Persinger@umcsn.com
University Medical Center
1800 West Charleston Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89102