Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute Awarded Advanced Certification in Heart Failure from The Joint Commission
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (PRWEB) October 07, 2014 -- The Joint Commission, in conjunction with The American Heart Association, recently recognized Saint Luke’s Hospital with Advanced Certification in Heart Failure. Achievement of this certification signifies an organization’s dedication to fostering better outcomes for patients in its heart failure program. Saint Luke’s Advanced Certification in Heart Failure has demonstrated that their services have met critical elements of performance to achieve long-term success in improving outcomes for patients diagnosed with and being treated for heart failure.
Saint Luke’s Hospital underwent a rigorous on-site review on September 26, 2014. A Joint Commission expert evaluated Saint Luke’s compliance with the requirements for The Joint Commission’s Disease-Specific Care Certification program as well as heart failure-specific requirements, such as collecting Joint Commission core measure data and using it for performance improvement activities.
"In achieving Joint Commission advanced certification, Saint Luke’s Hospital has demonstrated its commitment to the highest level of care for its patients with heart failure,” says Jean Range, M.S., R.N., C.P.H.Q. executive director, Disease-Specific Care Certification, The Joint Commission. “Certification is a voluntary process and The Joint Commission commends Saint Luke’s for successfully undertaking this challenge to elevate its standard of care and instill confidence in the community it serves.”
Saint Luke’s Hospital launched its heart failure program in 1998 with a comprehensive approach to treating heart failure which emphasizes patient engagement and self management techniques as well as outpatient follow up and coordination of care. Inpatient care is provided by an expert heart failure team comprised of six heart failure cardiologists, all of whom are certified in Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology through the American Board of Internal Medicine.
The Saint Luke’s Heart Failure Program also features:
• Early-stage heart failure management, which utilizes aggressive medical management to optimize cardiac function and efficiency and thoughtful evaluation of any corrective surgical or device therapy that may be appropriate
• Comprehensive management and follow-up care for advanced heart failure and high-risk heart failure patients
• The only full spectrum of surgical support for advanced heart failure in the region including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), mechanical assist devices (VAD), and heart transplantation
• Management of complex congenital heart disease patients who are at risk to develop heart failure as adults
• A cardiopulmonary exercise laboratory dedicated to evaluating patient therapy and functional capacity
• Full-time research nurses who screen and enroll heart failure patients in over ten active protocols
“The Advanced Certification in Heart Failure by The Joint Commission is a tremendous accomplishment and recognition for our exceptional heart failure team at Saint Luke’s Hospital,” said Julie Quirin, CEO of Saint Luke’s Hospital. “Our team specializes in treating the most complex cases and strives to provide the highest level of care to heart failure patients in the Kansas City community and the region.”
The Joint Commission’s Advanced Certification in Heart Failure Program, launched in 2011, is designed to target methods of providing safe, successful transitions of care as the patient moves from the inpatient setting to an outpatient setting. The heart failure requirements were developed in consultation with an external task force of experts and organizations with expertise in heart failure care, including representatives from the American Heart Association, Heart Failure Society of America and American Association of Heart Failure Nurses. These groups also provided feedback on how to evaluate heart failure programs that provide care in both inpatient and post-acute care settings.
Saint Luke’s Hospital will be able to display The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® and the American Heart Association Heart-Check mark for Advanced Certification in Heart Failure. Displaying the seal and Heart-Check mark signifies that Saint Luke’s is providing the “next generation of stroke or heart failure care,” and will help patients easily identify this facility as one of quality that has surpassed numerous goals in the treatment of heart failure.
For more information on The Joint Commission and American Heart Association’s Advanced Certification in Heart Failure, visit http://www.jointcommission.org/ or http://www.heart.org/myhospital.
About Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute
Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, a member of Saint Luke’s Health System and a teaching affiliate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, is one of the preeminent cardiovascular programs in the country. Its legacy of innovation began more than 25 years ago when it opened as the nation’s first heart hospital. Since then, the Heart Institute has earned a world-wide reputation for excellence in the treatment of heart disease, including interventional cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, imaging, heart failure, transplant, heart disease prevention, women’s heart disease, electrophysiology, cardiac imaging, outcomes research, and health economics. With more than 50 full-time board-certified cardiovascular specialists on staff, the Heart Institute offers one of the largest heart failure/heart transplant programs in the country, has the largest experience with transcatheter aortic valve replacement in the Midwest, and is a global teaching site for the newest approaches to opening challenging blocked arteries using minimally invasive techniques.
About The Joint Commission:
Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including more than 10,600 hospitals and home care organizations, and more than 6,600 other health care organizations that provide long term care, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services. The Joint Commission also certifies more than 2,400 disease-specific care programs such as stroke, heart failure, joint replacement and stroke rehabilitation, and 400 health care staffing services. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at http://www.jointcommission.org.
About the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association:
The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke – America’s No. 1 and No. 3 killers. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit heart.org or call any of our offices around the country.
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Laurel Gifford, Saint Luke's Health System, +1 (816) 502-8532, [email protected]
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