ECMC receives American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines Silver Performance Achievement Award

BUFFALO, NEW YORK; June 25, 2010-ECMC Corporation was recently notified that it has received the Get With The Guidelines^SM -Heart Failure Silver Performance Achievement Award from the American Heart Association.  The recognition signifies that ECMC has reached an aggressive goal of treating heart failure patients with 85% compliance for one year to core standard levels of care as outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines for heart failure patients.  

Get With The Guidelines is a quality improvement initiative that provides hospital staff with tools that follow proven evidence-based guidelines and procedures in caring for heart failure patients to prevent future hospitalizations.  According to Get With The Guidelines-HF treatment guidelines, heart failure patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, diuretics and anticoagulants in the hospital.  They also receive alcohol/drug use and thyroid management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before being discharged.  

"The full implementation of national heart failure guideline recommended care is a critical step in preventing recurrent hospitalizations and prolonging the lives of heart failure 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 goal of the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines program is to help hospitals like ECMC implement appropriate evidence-based care and protocols that will reduce disability and the number of deaths in these patients." 

According to the American Heart Association, about 5.7 million people suffer from heart failure. Statistics also indicate that each year more than 292,200 people will die of heart failure. 

"ECMC is dedicated to making our care for heart failure patients among the best in the country.  We will continue in our efforts and build off the success of this award by continued implementation of the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure program that allowed us to accomplish this goal," said Jody L. Lomeo, CEO, ECMC Corporation. 

Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure helps ECMC's staff develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes.  The program includes quality-improvement measures such as care maps, discharge protocols, standing orders and measurement tools.  This quick and efficient use of guideline tools will enable ECMC to improve the quality of care it provides heart failure patients, save lives and ultimately, reduce healthcare costs by lowering the recurrence of heart attacks.  

ABOUT ERIE COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER: The ECMC Corporation includes an advanced academic medical center (ECMC) with 550 inpatient beds and 136 skilled-nursing-home beds, on- and off-campus health centers, more than 40 outpatient specialty care clinics and the Erie County Home, a skilled nursing facility. ECMC is the regional center for trauma, burn care, and rehabilitation and is a major teaching facility for the University at Buffalo. Most ECMC physicians, dentists and pharmacists are dedicated faculty members of the university. More Western New York residents are choosing ECMC for exceptional patient care and customer service provided as a result of its Culture of Care. 

NEWS CONTACT: Joe Cirillo: 716-898-4300 -or- jcirillo@ecmc.edu           

 

 

 

6/25/2010