American Heart Association Award recognizes Porter Regional Hospital’s commitment to quality heart failure care
VALPARAISO, IN ― Porter Regional 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.
Porter Regional Hospital 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.
“Our cardiology staff 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 Sean Dardeau, Chief Executive Officer of Porter Health Care System and the Northwest Indiana market. “We use tools and resources that help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes. We also have best practice processes in place to ensure heart failure patients with type 2 diabetes get the special care they need.”
The hospital also received the Association’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll Award. To qualify for this recognition, Porter Regional Hospital met quality measures developed with more than 90 % of compliance for 12 consecutive months for the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score” set forth by the American Heart Association.
“We are pleased to recognize Porter Regional Hospital for their commitment to heart failure care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., 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.
