Home » Baptist Health Lexington recognized with Gold-Plus Award for heart failure care

Baptist Health Lexington recognized with Gold-Plus Award for heart failure care

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 17, 2015) — Baptist Health Lexington received the Get With The Guidelines®–Heart Failure Gold-Plus Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Foundation’s secondary prevention guidelines for patients with heart failure.

Baptist Health LexingtonThis marks the second year that Baptist Health Lexington has been recognized with a quality achievement award for heart failure care. The facility is one of seven acute-care hospitals owned by Kentucky’s Baptist Health.

Get With The Guidelines–Heart Failure is a quality improvement program that helps hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing hospital readmissions for heart failure patients.

Baptist Health Lexington earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include evaluation of the patient, proper use of medications and aggressive risk-reduction therapies. These would include ACE inhibitors/ARBs, beta-blockers, diuretics, anticoagulants, and other appropriate therapies. Before patients are discharged, they also receive education on managing their heart failure and overall health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

“Baptist Health Lexington 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 to accomplish this goal by tracking and measuring our success in meeting internationally respected guidelines,” said Susan Mobley, RN, BSN, MBA, NE-BC, Vice President of Cardiovascular Services for Baptist Health’s East Region, which includes Baptist Health Lexington.

Baptist Health Lexington also received the association’s Target: Heart Failure Honor Roll. Target: Heart Failure is an initiative that provides hospitals with educational tools, prevention programs and treatment guidelines designed to reduce the risk of heart failure patients ending up back in the hospital. Hospitals are required to meet criteria that improves medication adherence, provides early follow-up care and coordination and enhances patient education. The goal is to reduce hospital readmissions and help patients improve their quality of life in managing this chronic condition.

According to the American Heart Association, about 5.7 million adults in the United States suffer from heart failure, with the number expected to rise to 8 million by 2030. Statistics show that each year about 870,000 new cases are diagnosed and about 50 percent of those diagnosed will die within five years. However, many heart failure patients can lead a full, enjoyable life when their condition is managed with proper medications or devices and with healthy lifestyle changes.