Heart Failure Quality Improvement Initiative
It is time to issue a Call to Action in the form of a nationwide Heart Failure Quality Improvement Initiative to focus on ensuring that all Americans with heart failure receive standard of care for the treatment of the disease.
We call upon directors of government programs (including Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration) and commercial health plans to participate in this Initiative by educating providers in their network regarding the proper standard of care. And we ask that organized medicine (physician groups and hospital association) join the campaign by utilizing their networks to inform their members about standard of care for treating heart failure in all ethnic groups, including African Americans.
Broadly speaking, we call upon health systems and payers to become active members in this important effort to raise patient awareness about appropriate care for heart failure among all Americans - and particularly in African Americans, where a scientifically proven treatment is significantly underutilized.
Click the headlines below for more details on the key issues included in the Heart Failure Quality Improvement Initiative.
We call upon directors of government programs (including Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration) and commercial health plans to participate in this Initiative by educating providers in their network regarding the proper standard of care. And we ask that organized medicine (physician groups and hospital association) join the campaign by utilizing their networks to inform their members about standard of care for treating heart failure in all ethnic groups, including African Americans.
Broadly speaking, we call upon health systems and payers to become active members in this important effort to raise patient awareness about appropriate care for heart failure among all Americans - and particularly in African Americans, where a scientifically proven treatment is significantly underutilized.
Click the headlines below for more details on the key issues included in the Heart Failure Quality Improvement Initiative.
Quality MeasuresQuality measures within federal payment programs reward physicians and hospitals for delivering the best possible care. A long overdue measure of appropriate heart failure medication use in African Americans is working its way through the process and needs your support to ensure it is successfully adopted.
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VeteransThe VA operates the nation’s largest health care system, with more than 1,700 hospitals, clinics, community living centers, and other facilities. Yet the nation’s Veterans do not have access to the recommended treatment for heart failure in African Americans because it is excluded from their National Drug Formulary.
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1,000,000 HeartsIn 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services launched the Million Hearts as a national public-private initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. The project focuses on heart disease prevention, educational campaigns, care improvement, and local health initiatives.
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Hospital AdherenceOnly 24 percent of eligible African Americans with heart failure receive the appropriate Standard of Care after being discharged from the hospital. We call on all hospitals to commit to providing all patients with the right care by adhering to guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association.
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