Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital Honored for Heart Failure Care Efforts

Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain announced this week that it has been recognized for meeting quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure patients at a set level for a designated time frame. 

The hospital received the "Get With the Guidelines-Heart Failure Bronze Quality Achievement Award" for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Foundation. 

The "Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure" program works to help hospital teams provide up-to-date, research-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing hospital readmissions for heart failure patients. 

The measures met by the hospital include proper use of medications and aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, diuretics and anticoagulants while patients are in the hospital, according to the announcement. Before patients are discharged, they also receive education on managing their heart failure and overall health, as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation. 

“Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our heart failure patients, and implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines–Heart Failure program helps us accomplish this goal by tracking and measuring our success in meeting internationally-respected clinical guidelines,” Dr. Michael Gustafson, Chief Operating Officer at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, said in a statement. 

Stated Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering committee and Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, "We are pleased to recognize Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital for their commitment to heart failure care. Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce patients’ length of stays and 30-day readmission rates and also reduce disparity gaps in care.”