DALLAS, Nov. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Heart Association will put quality patient care center stage at Scientific Sessions 2004, Nov. 7-10, in New Orleans. Complex healthcare dynamics, competing interests and ongoing financial and demographic pressures add to the ever-growing challenge. So, more than ever, the role of nonprofit healthcare organizations is critical.
"The American Heart Association takes that role seriously and understands the importance of those who serve patients -- contributing to the quality of patient care that impacts each and every community," said Alice K. Jacobs, M.D., AHA president.
Knowledge leads to better treatment and over the past year the association has focused its energy on building programs and establishing relationships to improve quality patient care, including:
-- Launching the stroke module of Get With The Guidelines(SM) (GWTG), the hospital-based quality improvement program. Success of the first module, coronary artery disease (CAD), shows that 80,000 lives could be saved if the CAD module alone were implemented nationwide. Plans are underway to introduce additional modules, such as heart failure, before spring 2005. Given GWTG's contribution to improvements in quality care, significant field resources were devoted to this initiative during the past year. -- Co-sponsoring the 2nd International Quality Improvement Summit on Acute Coronary Syndromes with Duke University School of Medicine, Nov. 8 at Scientific Sessions. -- Hosting the leading scientific meeting for cardiovascular care, the Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke on May 14-16, 2005, in Washington, D.C. -- Raising awareness of women's risk of heart disease through the American Heart Association's landmark women's movement, Go Red For Women. More than 65,000 women have registered for the campaign. A free online physician's tool kit to educate physicians about treating cardiovascular disease in women is available at http://www.myamericanheart.org/ . -- Promoting Primary Stroke Center Certification for hospitals, a collaborative effort with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO). The certification program, managed by JCAHO, will recognize sites that show compliance with clinical practice guidelines for managing and optimizing care and documenting performance measurement and improvement activities. -- Playing an active role in the Physician's Consortium for Performance Improvement convened by the American Medical Association. The Consortium is working to develop performance measures for chronic diseases managed in an outpatient setting. The American Heart Association has worked in collaboration with the consortium to develop performance measure sets that cover some common chronic diseases: diabetes, depression, osteoarthritis, heart failure, hypertension, and coronary artery disease. -- Working with allied health providers, such as pharmacists and nurses to understand their role in improving patient outcomes, and to identify opportunities to partner on programs that may improve the continuum of care. A program designed to engage community pharmacists in tracking their patients' compliance with medication and providing education to better manage their risk factors is being developed. -- Undertaking efforts with other partners to translate scientific guidelines into digest form, so that physicians can apply the most recent evidence-based guidelines at the point-of-care. -- Maintaining the National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, developed by recognized experts in emergency medicine and cardiology, to assist hospitals in improving patient outcomes. The tool tracks in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation events so hospitals can evaluate equipment, resources and training to improve practices. -- Offering the American Stroke Association's online NIH Stroke Scale in collaboration with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the American Academy of Neurology. The free course is designed for emergency physicians, neurologists, medical students and nurses. -- Encouraging Heart/Stroke Recognition Program participation, available for physicians who want to be recognized for high levels of performance in cardiovascular and stroke care. This collaborative effort with the National Council for Quality Assurance identifies physicians who consistently provide important screenings and work effectively with patients to control key risk factors.
Complex and difficult healthcare dynamics will continue to challenge the healthcare marketplace. The American Heart Association remains committed to influencing and improving the quality of patient care by advancing the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular patients. To learn more about the American Heart Association's quality care improvement efforts at Scientific Session visit the HeartQuarters booth 1824 at Scientific Sessions, or go to http://www.quality.americanheart.org/ .
The American Heart Association is the largest voluntary health organization working to prevent, treat and defeat heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. These diseases devastate millions of people of all ages and kill nearly 950,000 Americans each year. To fight them the association supports research, education and advocacy and helps heart disease and stroke patients. Over 22.5 million association volunteers and supporters are at work in their communities helping their friends, neighbors and loved ones live longer, better lives.
American Heart AssociationCONTACT: Patricia Beatty-Gonzalez of American Heart Association,+1-214-706-1285, or patricia.beattyg@heart.org