Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute Awarded Advanced Certification in Heart Failure from The Joint Commission
KANSAS CITY, Mo.– The Joint Commission, in conjunction with The American Heart Association, recently recognized Saint Luke’s Hospital with Advanced Certification in Heart Failure. Achievement of this certification signifies an organization’s dedication to fostering better outcomes for patients in its heart failure program. Saint Luke’s Advanced Certification in Heart Failure has demonstrated that their services have met critical elements of performance to achieve long-term success in improving outcomes for patients diagnosed with and being treated for heart failure.
Saint Luke’s Hospital underwent a rigorous on-site review on September 26, 2014. A Joint Commission expert evaluated Saint Luke’s compliance with the requirements for The Joint Commission’s Disease-Specific Care Certification program as well as heart failure-specific requirements, such as collecting Joint Commission core measure data and using it for performance improvement activities.
"In achieving Joint Commission advanced certification, Saint Luke’s Hospital has demonstrated its commitment to the highest level of care for its patients with heart failure,” says Jean Range, M.S., R.N., C.P.H.Q. executive director, Disease-Specific Care Certification, The Joint Commission. “Certification is a voluntary process and The Joint Commission commends Saint Luke’s for successfully undertaking this challenge to elevate its standard of care and instill confidence in the community it serves.”
Saint Luke’s Hospital launched its heart failure program in 1998 with a comprehensive approach to treating heart failure which emphasizes patient engagement and self management techniques as well as outpatient follow up and coordination of care. Inpatient care is provided by an expert heart failure team comprised of six heart failure cardiologists, all of whom are certified in Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology through the American Board of Internal Medicine.
The Saint Luke’s Heart Failure Program also features:
- Early-stage heart failure management, which utilizes aggressive medical management to optimize cardiac function and efficiency and thoughtful evaluation of any corrective surgical or device therapy that may be appropriate
- Comprehensive management and follow-up care for advanced heart failure and high-risk heart failure patients
- The only full spectrum of surgical support for advanced heart failure in the region including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), mechanical assist devices (VAD), and heart transplantation.
- Management of complex congenital heart disease patients who are at risk to develop heart failure as adults
- A cardiopulmonary exercise laboratory dedicated to evaluating patient therapy and functional capacity
- Full-time research nurses who screen and enroll heart failure patients in over ten active protocols
“The Advanced Certification in Heart Failure by The Joint Commission is a tremendous accomplishment and recognition for our exceptional heart failure team at Saint Luke’s Hospital, ,” said Julie Quirin, CEO of Saint Luke’s Hospital. “Our team specializes in treating the most complex cases and strives to provide the highest level of care to heart failure patients in the Kansas City community and the region.”
The Joint Commission’s Advanced Certification in Heart Failure Program, launched in 2011, is designed to target methods of providing safe, successful transitions of care as the patient moves from the inpatient setting to an outpatient setting. The heart failure requirements were developed in consultation with an external task force of experts and organizations with expertise in heart failure care, including representatives from the American Heart Association, Heart Failure Society of America and American Association of Heart Failure Nurses. These groups also provided feedback on how to evaluate heart failure programs that provide care in both inpatient and post-acute care settings.
Saint Luke’s Hospital will be able to display The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® and the American Heart Association Heart-Check mark for Advanced Certification in Heart Failure. Displaying the seal and Heart-Check mark signifies that Saint Luke’s is providing the “next generation of stroke or heart failure care,” and will help patients easily identify this facility as one of quality that has surpassed numerous goals in the treatment of heart failure.
For more information on The Joint Commission and American Heart Association’s Advanced Certification in Heart Failure visit http://www.jointcommission.org/.