(l-r) Cardiovascular Medicine faculty members James Bergin, Andrew Buda, and Jamie Kennedy, members of the UVA heart failure team.
The Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and the UVA Heart and Vascular Center garnered recognition and awards this month for two of its programs.
For working to improve patients’ recovery times and reduce readmissions, the heart failure program received two quality awards from the American Heart Association.
And, for providing high-quality care to heart attack patients based on national guidelines and recommendations, UVA received a “Platinum Performance Achievement Award” from the American College of Cardiology.
A “Gold” for Heart Failure Care
The Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Center earned the AHA’s 2017 Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award along with being named to the Target: Heart Failure Honor Roll.
“Each day, our multidisciplinary heart failure team is working to provide excellent care that is tailored to the needs of each patient,” said James Bergin, MD, medical director of UVA’s heart failure/cardiac transplantation program. “It’s wonderful to see our team’s dedication recognized by the American Heart Association.”
UVA earned the awards by meeting or exceeding research-based standards designed to help heart failure patients receive the highest-quality care and recover sooner. Standards include prescribing appropriate medications, implanting devices to help improve heart function, giving flu and pneumonia vaccinations, scheduling prompt follow-up care and providing education to help patients manage their heart failure.
“These awards showcase the ability of our heart failure team to provide comprehensive, quality care for our patients,” said Pamela M. Sutton-Wallace, chief executive officer of UVA Medical Center.
UVA’s team of cardiologists, heart surgeons, nurses and therapists that specializes in cardiac care provides comprehensive care and monitoring for heart failure patients tailored to their individual needs. Services include helping patients make diet and lifestyle changes, managing medications, implanting devices that can help manage heart failure and, in certain cases, coordinating heart transplants.
After they are discharged from the hospital, heart failure patients at UVA can also benefit from a pair of follow up programs. The Hospital to Home program brings patients back to a nurse practitioner for a clinic visit four to seven days after discharge to answer questions and adjust medications as needed. For patients who live within 60 miles of UVA, the Heart Health at Home program provides regular follow-up visits from a certified nursing assistant that are supervised by a nurse practitioner.
Dr. Lawrence Gimple, director of UVA’s Clinical Cardiology program.
A “Platinium” for Heart Attack Care
UVA was among 193 U.S. hospitals to earn the 2017 National Cardiovascular Data Registry ACTION Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award for providing high-quality care to heart attack patients based on national guidelines and recommendations from the ACC and the American Heart Association. “Full participation in the registry engages hospitals in a robust quality improvement process using data to drive improvements in adherence to guidelines recommendations and overall quality of care provided to heart attack patients,” according to an ACC statement.
Guidelines include providing aspirin to heart attack patients when they are admitted and released from the hospital; quickly restoring blood flow to blocked arteries that cause a heart attack; providing counseling on quitting smoking; and offering cardiac rehabilitation programs.
Leaders at the UVA Heart and Vascular Center said collaboration across the Health System and with partners in the community is key to providing excellent care for patients and receiving this award.
“Our Emergency Department, Cardiac Catheterization Lab, Coronary Care Unit, Acute Cardiology team, Pharmacy and others at UVA who take care of our heart attack patients – together with local Emergency Medical Service providers – deserve credit for their commitment to saving lives and improving outcomes,” said Lawrence Gimple, MD, director of clinical cardiology at UVA and a faculty member in the Cardiovascular Division.
UVA’s services for heart attack patients include:
- A Chest Pain Center inside the Emergency Department to quickly assess and treat patients.
- Five specialized procedure rooms for heart attack patients.
- A Heart Attack Recovery Clinic, where all heart attack patients are scheduled for a follow-up visit one week after being discharged from the hospital.
“This award is a well-deserved tribute to this interdisciplinary team that reached across multiple areas of the health system to ensure constant refinement of our processes. Their hard work and collaboration has resulted in superlative care for our heart and vascular patients,” said Pamela M. Sutton-Wallace, chief executive officer of UVA Medical Center.
Sources: UVA Health System news releases
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“UVA Heart Failure Program Earns National Quality Awards” by Eric Swensen (6/5/17)
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“UVAÂ Earns National Award for Care of Heart Attack Patients” by Eric Swensen (6/29/17)
Filed Under: Notable Achievements
Tags: Awards, Cardiology