The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association Announce New Certification in Heart Failure

The Joint Commission, in collaboration with the American Heart Association, has announced a new Disease Specific Care Advanced Certification Program in Heart Failure. This certificate recognizes hospitals that are making exceptional efforts to foster better quality of care and outcomes for heart failure patients. The Joint Commission’s new advanced certification program requires organizations to meet the standards and performance measurement requirements under The Joint Commission’s Disease Specific Care Certification program and achieve and sustain for 90 days or more at least 85 percent compliance with the five achievement measures of Get with the Guidelines Heart Failure, the American Heart Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program designed to close the treatment gap in cardiovascular disease; and collect data on Joint Commission core measures for heart failure and use this data in ongoing performance improvement activities.

For more information about the advanced heart failure certification program go to http://www.jointcommission.org/CertificationPrograms/Heart+Failure/default.htm