Schuylkill Medical Center East Norwegian Street and Schuylkill Medical Center South Jackson Street have
received the Get With the Guidelines® - Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The recognition signifies that both Medical Centers have reached an exceptional goal of treating heart failure patients according to the guidelines of care recommended by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology.
This marks the second year that the South Jackson Street Medical Center has been recognized with the Gold Quality
Achievement Award and the first year for the East Norwegian Street Medical Center. In addition to the Gold Plus
Award, the South Jackson Street Medical Center has also been recognized as Target Heart Failure Honor Roll
Hospital. Target Heart Failure focuses on three key areas of patient care: Medication Optimizaiton, Early Follow-up Care Coordination and Enhanced Patient Education.
To qualify for the Target Heart Failure Honor Roll, hospitals must demonstrate 50% or greater compliance on spedific measures within those key areas. The vision set for Target: Heart Failure is to improve quality, care transitions and outcomes for patients with heart failure.
Get With The Guidelines helps Schuylkill Medical Center Staff develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes to improve patient care and outcomes. The quick and efficient use of guidelilne procedures can improve the quality of care for heart failure patients, save lives and ultimately, reduce healthcare costs by lowering the recurrence of heart attacks. "Recent studies show that patients treated in hospitals participating in the American Heart Assocation's Get With The Guideines-Heart Failure Program receive a higher quality of care and may experience better outcomes," said Lee
H. Shwamm, M.D., Chair of the Get With The Guidelines National Steering Committee and director of the TeleStroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. The teams at both Schuylkill Medical Centers are to be commended for their commiotment to improving the care of their patients."
"We are very proud of the efforts of our staff in achieving this prestigious and important award from the American Heart Association," noted Cathy Sophy, RN, Administrative Director of Quality. "Schuylkill Health is dedicated to making
care for heart failure patients amont the bst in the country. "The American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines Heart Failure Program Helps us to accomplish this goal," she said.
