For the second consecutive year, Stony Brook University Hospital has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring heart failure patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines founded in the latest scientific evidence. The goal is speeding recovery and reducing hospital readmissions for heart failure patients.
Stony Brook earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and aggressive risk-reduction therapies. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their heart failure and overall health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.
“Stony Brook University Hospital is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our patients with heart failure by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-HF initiative,” said Hal Skopicki, Co-Director, Stony Brook University Heart Institute; Chief, Cardiology and Director, Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathy Center. “The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”
Hospitals receiving the Get With The Guidelines® Gold Plus Achievement Award have reached an aggressive goal of treating patients with 85 percent or higher compliance to core standard levels of care as outlined by the American Heart Association® for two consecutive calendar years. In addition, those hospitals have demonstrated 75 percent compliance (to four out of 10 heart failure quality measures or seven out of 10 stroke quality measures) during the 12-month period.
“We are pleased to recognize Stony Brook University Hospital for their commitment to heart failure care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, MD, national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee and Executive Vice Chair of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”
According to the American Heart Association, more than 6.5 million adults in the United States are living with heart failure. Many heart failure patients can lead a full, enjoyable life when their condition is managed with proper medications or devices and with healthy lifestyle changes.
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