SoutheastHEALTH Receives Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award
SoutheastHEALTH announced today receiving the American Heart Association's Get With the Guidelines (GWTG) Heart Failure Gold-Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes Southeast'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.
This is the second year Southeast has 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 from the hospital, patients also receive education on managing their heart failure and overall health.
"Patient care and optimal outcomes are the number one priority and SoutheastHEALTH is dedicated to turning treatment guidelines into lifelines by implementing the American Heart Association's GWTG initiatives," said Ken Bateman, President and CEO.
"Providing the best, evidence-based care to all heart patients is the ongoing focus of our entire cardiac and vascular physician team and is exemplified by our ongoing commitment to invest in new technology, innovative minimally-invasive treatment options and facilities that result in improved safety and better outcomes for all of our heart and vascular patients."
He noted this past year they've made patient-centered investments which included a new, hybrid operating suite with technology to advance treatment options for our region's critically ill heart patients, a new Heart and Vascular Pavilion designed for patient and family comfort and introducing to the region transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TMVR), a minimally invasive approach to replacement of a narrowed aortic valve, and transcatheter MitraClip procedure which allows mitral regurgitation patients to be treated without invasive open heart surgery.
The core foundation of the Heart Failure Team's work is "reducing hospital readmissions and helping patients improve their quality of life in managing this chronic condition," said Dr. Brian Beck, Medical Director of Southeast's Heart Failure Program. "This award demonstrates our ongoing commitment and adherence to clinical guidelines to support better outcomes for heart failure patients. Our multidisciplinary team worked diligently to align our practice and patient care methods as set forth by Get With The Guidelines Quality Achievement Award. To achieve this accolade is a remarkable team achievement."
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 using best-practice guidelines. To find out more about Southeast Health's program for Heart Failure patients go to: sehealth.org/heart
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with tools and resources to increase adherence to the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 9 million patients since 2001.