Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines–Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.
This marks the third consecutive year RWJ Hamilton has been recognized with a quality achievement award. The Gold Plus Award is the highest level of recognition within the Get With The Guidelines program and acknowledges RWJ Hamilton for consistent compliance with nationally accepted standards of care for treating heart failure patients.
To receive the award, RWJ Hamilton exceeded scores of 85 percent or higher in adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure Quality Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals. The hospital also exceeded scores of 75 percent or higher compliance with five or more Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure Quality Measures, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care and outcomes.
Heart failure affects about 5.7 million Americans and is the leading cause of hospitalization in people older than 65.
The term “heart failure” does not mean the heart has “failed” or stopped working. It means the heart does not pump as well as it should.
At RWJ Hamilton, heart failure patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies if needed. Before being discharged from the hospital, patients receive education on managing their heart failure and overall health, including lifestyle modifications and follow-up care.
RWJ Hamilton’s transition coaches work with patients to ensure they receive the proper education and support after being discharged from the hospital. Transition coaches make home visits and follow-up phone calls to help patients in self-managing their care.
More information is online at rwjhamilton.org.
