INDIANAPOLIS — The Heart Center at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines–Coronary Artery Disease (GWTG–CAD) Silver Performance Achievement Award.
The award recognizes the Heart Center’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of cardiac care that effectively improves treatment of patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease.
Under GWTG–CAD, patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta blockers in the hospital and receive smoking cessation/ weight management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before they are discharged.
Hospitals that receive the GWTG-CAD Silver Performance Achievement Award have demonstrated for at least one year that 85 percent of its coronary patients (without risk factors) are discharged following the American Heart Association’s recommended treatment guidelines.
“We are dedicated to making our cardiac unit among the best in the country, and the Get With The Guidelines program is helping us accomplish that by making it easier for our professionals to improve the long-term outcomes of our cardiac patients,” said Heart Center Executive Director Michael Hertel. “We are pleased to be recognized for our dedication and achievements in cardiac care.”
“The American Heart Association applauds the Heart Center at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers for its success in implementing the appropriate evidence-based care and protocols to reduce the number of recurrent events and deaths in cardiovascular disease patients,” said Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center. “The Center has achieved a high level of performance in terms of implementing these life-prolonging treatments.”
The GWTG program is designed to increase the use of and adherence to the American Heart Association’s secondary prevention guidelines for coronary artery disease. Developed to assist healthcare professionals in following proven standards and procedures before patients are discharged, GWTG–CAD can help reduce the risk of recurrent heart attacks and death in treated patients.
The program, which works by mobilizing teams in acute care hospitals to implement AHA/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines, was developed with support from an unrestricted educational grant from Merck & Co., Inc.
One such team at St. Francis is the Emergency Heart Attack Response Team (EHART), which recently has received international acclaim for developing a protocol that more effectively treats heart attack patients. Led by Umesh Khot, M.D., a cardiologist with the St. Francis Heart Center and Indiana Heart Physicians, EHART has reduced the time until patients receive lifesaving care after coming to the emergency department with chest pain.
Compared to the traditional protocol, patients arrived at the cardiac catheterization lab sooner, had less heart damage and shorter hospital stays. In addition, the EHART protocol also reduced the costs of care.
The EHART protocol has been requested by more than 170 hospitals and heart experts around the world within the last year.
More information about EHART is at www.heartattackcare.net.
According to the American Heart Association, about 565,000 people suffer a new heart attack and 300,000 experience a recurrent heart attack each year. Statistics also show that within one year of a heart attack, 18 percent of men and 23 percent of women will die. Within five years after an attack, about 33 percent of men and 43 percent of women will die.
The American Heart Association’s GWTG program is being implemented in hospitals around the country.
The award recognizes the Heart Center’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of cardiac care that effectively improves treatment of patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease.
Under GWTG–CAD, patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta blockers in the hospital and receive smoking cessation/ weight management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before they are discharged.
Hospitals that receive the GWTG-CAD Silver Performance Achievement Award have demonstrated for at least one year that 85 percent of its coronary patients (without risk factors) are discharged following the American Heart Association’s recommended treatment guidelines.
“We are dedicated to making our cardiac unit among the best in the country, and the Get With The Guidelines program is helping us accomplish that by making it easier for our professionals to improve the long-term outcomes of our cardiac patients,” said Heart Center Executive Director Michael Hertel. “We are pleased to be recognized for our dedication and achievements in cardiac care.”
“The American Heart Association applauds the Heart Center at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers for its success in implementing the appropriate evidence-based care and protocols to reduce the number of recurrent events and deaths in cardiovascular disease patients,” said Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center. “The Center has achieved a high level of performance in terms of implementing these life-prolonging treatments.”
The GWTG program is designed to increase the use of and adherence to the American Heart Association’s secondary prevention guidelines for coronary artery disease. Developed to assist healthcare professionals in following proven standards and procedures before patients are discharged, GWTG–CAD can help reduce the risk of recurrent heart attacks and death in treated patients.
The program, which works by mobilizing teams in acute care hospitals to implement AHA/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines, was developed with support from an unrestricted educational grant from Merck & Co., Inc.
One such team at St. Francis is the Emergency Heart Attack Response Team (EHART), which recently has received international acclaim for developing a protocol that more effectively treats heart attack patients. Led by Umesh Khot, M.D., a cardiologist with the St. Francis Heart Center and Indiana Heart Physicians, EHART has reduced the time until patients receive lifesaving care after coming to the emergency department with chest pain.
Compared to the traditional protocol, patients arrived at the cardiac catheterization lab sooner, had less heart damage and shorter hospital stays. In addition, the EHART protocol also reduced the costs of care.
The EHART protocol has been requested by more than 170 hospitals and heart experts around the world within the last year.
More information about EHART is at www.heartattackcare.net.
According to the American Heart Association, about 565,000 people suffer a new heart attack and 300,000 experience a recurrent heart attack each year. Statistics also show that within one year of a heart attack, 18 percent of men and 23 percent of women will die. Within five years after an attack, about 33 percent of men and 43 percent of women will die.
The American Heart Association’s GWTG program is being implemented in hospitals around the country.
