Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC) announced that 12 of its facilities have received one or more Get With The GuidelinesSM (GWTG) Performance Achievement Awards from the American Heart Association. GWTG is designed to ensure that patients with cardiovascular disease are consistently treated and discharged with appropriate medications and instructions to help reduce the patient’s risk of a second heart attack or stroke. The quality improvement program has three modules: coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke. These awards recognize the commitment and success of these Tenet facilities to reach for a higher standard of cardiac care that effectively improves treatment of patients.
Hospitals awarded American Heart Association’s GWTG – Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) Performance Achievement Award are Central Carolina Hospital, in Sanford, N.C.; Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Fla.; Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Neb.; Doctor’s Hospital of Modesto in Modesto, Calif.; Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Fla.; Kenner Regional Medical Center in Kenner, La.; Lindy Boggs Medical Center in New Orleans, La.; Providence Medical Center in El Paso; and St. Louis University Hospital in St. Louis, Mo.
The hospital awarded the American Heart Association’s GWTG – Heart Failure (HF) Performance Achievement Award was West Boca Medical Center, Fla. The hospitals awarded both the American Heart Association’s GWTG – Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and the GWTG – Heart Failure (HF) Performance Achievement Awards are: Atlanta Medical Center in Atlanta, Ga., and Doctor’s Hospital of Dallas in Dallas.
To receive an award, the hospitals achieved aggressive goals in each of the categories by demonstrating that at least 85 percent of its patients (without contraindications) are discharged following compliance with core standard levels of care and recommended treatments set by the American Heart Association / American College of Cardiology for coronary artery disease and heart failure.
"The American Heart Association’s GWTG program helps hospitals like these recognized Tenet facilities to implement appropriate evidence-based guidelines for care and protocols that will reduce the number of deaths in these patients," said Gregg Fonarow, M.D., chairman of the GWTG Science Sub-Committee and director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center. "The full implementation of acute and secondary prevention guidelines is a critical step in saving the lives of patients. We applaud these facilities for their success."
Jennifer Daley, M.D., Tenet’s senior vice president for clinical quality and chief medical officer, said: "Evidence-based practice of medicine is a key component of Tenet’s Commitment to Quality initiative. The American Heart Association’s GWTG program is aligned with our own goals. Having 12 Tenet hospitals recognized as Performance Achievement Hospitals, with two of those hospitals achieving this level of recognition for both coronary artery disease and heart failure, is a wonderful example of how hard our facilities are working to ensure quality care for our patients."
"Tenet is dedicated to promoting quality patient care in the communities we serve," said Trevor Fetter, Tenet’s president and chief executive officer. "We are pleased that the American Heart Association has recognized the dedication and achievements of these hospitals and staff, and we will continue to build off this success."
According to the American Heart Association, more than 450,000 people suffer a recurrent heart attack each year. Statistics also show that within one year of an attack, 25 percent of men and 38 percent of women will die. Within six years after a heart attack, about 22 percent of men and 46 percent of women will be disabled with heart failure. Projections have shown that implementation of cardiovascular disease secondary prevention guidelines nationwide, as promoted in the GWTG-CAD program alone, could result in saving more than 80,000 lives each year. GWTG- CAD is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Merck & Co, Inc. and the Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceutical Partnership. GWTG-HF is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline, Inc.
Tenet’s Commitment to Quality is a companywide strategy designed to enhance the overall quality and productivity of the care delivery process at Tenet hospitals across the country. It includes a series of targeted initiatives to bring about significant improvements in evidence-based quality of care and patient safety, nursing practice, medical staff governance, and other important areas related to the delivery of quality care.
Tenet Healthcare Corporation, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates acute care hospitals and related health care services. Tenet’s hospitals aim to provide the best possible care to every patient who comes through their doors, with a clear focus on quality and service. Tenet can be found on the World Wide Web at www.tenethealth.com.