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BUFFALO, NEW YORK; August 24, 2007 - According to a report recently released by IPRO, Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) received the top rating of hospitals in New York State for care related to heart failure.  This means that 100% of the patients with a diagnosis of heart failure that were treated at ECMC between October and December 2006 received all the appropriate care that they required. 

Erie County Medical Center is one of 57 New York State hospitals that participate with IPRO, the Quality Improvement Organization for New York State, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in a collaborative effort to improve the quality of care delivered to hospital patients.  The ultimate goal of this collaborative is to help ensure that every person receives the right care, every time, and that the care they receive is safe, effective, patient centered, timely, efficient and equitable. 

The collaborative focuses on providing recommended care that has been proven to result in better outcomes for patients admitted with a diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), congestive heart failure and/or pneumonia.  A key strategy to improving care is continuous measurement and reporting of performance related to this care.  This allows health care facilities to track progress and identify opportunities for improvement.  Erie County Medical Center, along with the other hospitals in the collaborative voluntarily report on a variety of indicators related to how care was provided to patients with these conditions. 

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, over 40 outpatient specialty care clinics and the Erie County Home, a 586-bed skilled nursing facility.  ECMC is the regional center for trauma, burn care, rehabilitation and is a major teaching facility for the State University of New York at Buffalo.  Most ECMC physicians, dentists and pharmacists are dedicated faculty members of the University.  Exceptional patient care and customer service make ECMC Western New York's Hospital of Choice.

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

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