West Valley again reaches ‘Gold Quality’ in treating heart failure

Caldwell hospital earns Gold Quality Achievement Award

CALDWELL, Idaho – For the third consecutive year, West Valley Medical Center has received the Gold level of national recognition for high-quality cardiac care from the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines program.

The 150-bed hospital earned the 2011 Get With The Guidelines^®–Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award. This signifies that West Valley Medical Center has reached an aggressive goal of treating heart failure patients with 85 percent compliance for at least 24 months to core standard levels of care outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines for heart failure patients.

“Given the prevalence of heart failure, it is important that we are fully prepared to provide the very best care to patients in our community,” CEO Julie Taylor said. “We’re honored to again receive this validation from the American Heart Association.”

Get With The Guidelines is a quality improvement initiative giving hospitals tools that follow proven evidence-based guidelines and procedures in caring for heart failure patients to prevent future hospitalizations. Under Get With The Guidelines–Heart Failure, heart failure patients are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies while in the hospital. They also receive alcohol/drug use and thyroid management counseling, as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before being discharged.

Additional local cardiac progress

St. Luke’s Health System and West Valley Medical Center recently formed an alliance called Collaborative Cardiovascular Care. This agreement bolsters support for quality and continuity of care for patients with heart conditions in the West Valley service area. As a result of these efforts, patients can be assured local access to frequently needed outpatient services as well as timely intervention and treatment for emergent cardiac conditions.

The collaboration will lead to the future development of a certified Chest Pain Center located in the West Valley Medical Center Emergency Department that will ensure early detection and treatment for patients with cardiac symptoms.

The collaboration also will create peripheral vascular diagnostic and interventional procedures and allow for the insertion of internal cardiac defibrillators at West Valley Medical Center.

Startling statistics

According to the American Heart Association, about 5.7 million people suffer from heart failure.  Statistics also show that, each year, 670,000 new cases are diagnosed and more than 277,000 people will die of heart failure.

West Valley Medical Center, Caldwell’s community hospital, is one of the leading hospital facilities and employers in Idaho. This 150-bed, nationally accredited facility is dedicated to providing high-quality, cost-effective healthcare to Treasure Valley residents. For more information about West Valley Medical Center, please see www.westvalleymedctr.com.

Get With The Guidelines^® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that empowers health care teams to save lives and reduce health care costs by helping hospitals follow evidence-based guidelines and recommendations.  For more information, visit heart.org/quality.