American Heart Association Awards Venice Regional Bayfront Health for "Gold Plus" Quality Care for Stroke and Heart Failure
6/5/2017
Venice Regional Bayfront Health has earned the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Gold Plus Quality Achievement Awards for both stroke and heart failure. The awards recognize the hospital’s commitment and success in ensuring stroke and heart failure patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
“The Gold Plus awards for stroke and heart failure are further evidence of Venice Regional’s commitment to quality care and patient safety,” said Venice Regional CEO John McLain. “Serving a senior community as we do in South Sarasota County, it is particularly gratifying to be recognized for achieving the highest standards in caring for patients with these conditions.”
“The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association is pleased to recognize Venice Regional Bayfront Health for its commitment to stroke and heart failure care,” said Paul Heidenreich, M.D., M.S., national chairman 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.”
This is the seventh year the hospital has been recognized with a quality achievement award for stroke. To receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight quality measures.
These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. They focus on appropriate use of guideline-based care for stroke patients, including aggressive use of medications such as clot-busting and anti-clotting drugs, blood thinners and cholesterol-reducing drugs, preventive action for deep vein thrombosis and smoking cessation counseling.
“A stroke patient loses 1.9 million neurons each minute stroke treatment is delayed. The Gold Plus recognition further demonstrates our commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatments to patients quickly and safely,” McLain said.
Venice Regional also is certified by The Joint Commission as a Primary Stroke Center meeting specific guidelines, such as rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department and guideline-based care for inpatients.
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes, and nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
Venice Regional also received the Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Foundation’s secondary prevention guidelines for patients with heart failure.
This marks the fifth year that Venice Regional has been recognized with a quality achievement award for heart failure. Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure is a quality improvement program that 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. Launched in 2005, numerous published studies have demonstrated the program’s success in achieving patient outcome improvements, including reductions in 30-day readmissions.
Venice Regional 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.
“Venice Regional’s readmission rates for heart failure patients is lower than the national average, and this award further validates the high quality of care that patients receive from our dedicated teams,” McLain said. “From the emergency department, to advanced imaging and minimally invasive intervention in our catheterization lab, to the skilled surgeons and diligent nursing care – Venice Regional’s heart care ranks among the nation’s best.”
According to the American Heart Association, about 5.7 million adults in the United States suffer from heart failure, with the number expected to rise to eight million by 2030. Statistics show that each year about 870,000 new cases are diagnosed and about 50 percent of those diagnosed will die within five years. However, many heart failure patients can lead a full, enjoyable life when their condition is managed with proper medications or devices and with healthy lifestyle changes.
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 6 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.
Venice Regional Bayfront Health
Venice Regional Bayfront Health is a 312-bed, acute care hospital providing a comprehensive array of health care services to the greater Venice area. Venice Regional, and its affiliated Gulf Coast Medical Group clinics, provide high quality health care that is accessible to residents and visitors across Central and South Sarasota County. The hospital’s services include cardiac, stroke, orthopedic, metabolic, open-heart and advanced surgery, wound care, women’s care and interventional radiology. Venice Regional has been nationally recognized as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures by The Joint Commission for five consecutive years, an Accredited Chest Pain Center with PCI by the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care, a dual Center of Excellence in Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery by Surgical Review Corporation and the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program, a Joint Commission-Certified Primary Stroke Center, and a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology. Notable quality awards include American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award and Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award; the Robert A. Warriner III, M.D. Wound Care Center of Excellence Award by Healogics for eight consecutive years.
Back