For the third consecutive year, UConn Health has been honored for its heart failure care by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.
UConn John Dempsey Hospital has received the “Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award” for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the awarding groups’ secondary prevention guidelines for patients with heart failure.
This quality improvement program helps hospital teams follow the most up-to-date, research-based standards with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing hospital readmissions for heart failure patients.
“This award is a recognition of the team effort at UConn Health to provide the best care to patients with heart failure,” says Dr. Jason Ryan, medical director of the heart failure program at UConn Health.
UConn Health’s heart failure team earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure patients. These measures include evaluation of the patient, proper use of medications and aggressive risk-reduction therapies, such as ACE inhibitors/ARBs, beta-blockers, diuretics, anticoagulants, and other appropriate therapies. Before patients are discharged, they also receive education on managing their heart failure and overall health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.
“This is a terrific honor that reflects the dedication and professionalism of our heart failure team,” says Dr. Bruce Liang, director of UConn Health’s Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center. “Implementing this program helps us deliver the best care for our heart failure patients by tracking and measuring our success in meeting internationally respected guidelines.”
UConn John Dempsey Hospital also was named to the association’s “Target: Heart FailureSM Honor Roll.” Target: Heart Failure is an initiative that provides hospitals with educational tools, prevention programs and treatment guidelines designed to reduce the risk of heart failure patients ending up back in the hospital. Hospitals are required to meet criteria that improves medication adherence, provides early follow-up care and coordination and enhances patient education. The goal is to reduce hospital readmissions and help patients improve their quality of life in managing this chronic condition.
“We are pleased to recognize UConn Health and its heart failure team for their commitment to heart failure care,” says Dr. Paul Heidenreich, national chair of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and professor of medicine at Stanford University. “Research has shown there are benefits to patients who are treated at hospitals that have adopted the Get With The Guidelines program. Get With The Guidelines research has demonstrated the impact of lowering 30-day readmissions and reducing mortality rates.”
EMS Also Honored
The American Heart Association also is recognizing the UConn Health Fire Department with a “Mission: Lifeline® EMS Gold Award” for implementing quality improvement measures for the treatment of patients who experience severe heart attacks.
Emergency medical service providers are vital to the success of the Mission: Lifeline® program, which seeks to save lives by closing the gaps that separate these patients from timely access to appropriate treatments that restore critical blood flow.
“This honor reflects the very close collaboration between our EMS, our Emergency Department, and the Calhoun Cardiology Center to achieve the success we’ve had in door-to-balloon times, which measure how long it takes from patient arrival to cardiac intervention,” says UConn John Dempsey Hospital CEO Anne Diamond. “What it amounts to is a fantastic group of first responders and clinical staff working as a team to save lives and maintain quality of life at every opportunity, and we couldn’t be prouder.”
EMS agencies perform 12-lead ECGs which measure the electrical activity of the heart and can help determine if a heart attack has occurred. They also follow protocols derived from American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology guidelines. These correct tools, training, and practices allow EMS providers to rapidly identify suspected heart attack patients, promptly notify the medical center, and trigger an early response from the awaiting hospital personnel.
“Our UConn paramedics bring the hospital to the patient’s side,” says UConn EMS coordinator Peter Canning. “Their ability to diagnose heart attack and alert our medical staff before even leaving the patient’s home has saved countless lives and led to a better quality of life for many people in our community who have undergone severe cardiac problems. Our first medical contact-to-balloon times, which measure how long it takes from paramedic arrival at the patient’s side to clearing a life-threatening heart blockage in the hospital, are consistently among the tops in the state. We are very proud of their dedication and achievement in emergency medical care for all cardiac patients.”
Agencies that receive the Mission: Lifeline Gold award have demonstrated at least 75 percent compliance for each required achievement measure for two years. This is the second consecutive year the UConn Health Fire Department has earned this distinction.
