American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association to Offer Hospital Cardiovascular Accreditation Services

Collaboration will support improvements in cardiovascular care and patient outcomes

Contact: Nicole Napoli, nnapoli@acc.org, 202-375-6523

WASHINGTON (Oct 28, 2016) -

U.S. hospitals and other institutions will have access to a single, comprehensive set of cardiovascular accreditation services through a new collaboration between the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA).

Starting in 2017, hospitals will be able to take advantage of a suite of co-branded accreditation services focused on all aspects of cardiac care, including chest pain, cardiac catheterization, atrial fibrillation, heart failure and other cardiovascular conditions.

ACC and AHA accreditation services will offer all hospitals and institutions a single source of state-of-the-art process improvement tools to bridge gaps and integrate evidence-based science, quality initiatives, clinical best-practices and the latest ACC/AHA guidelines into their cardiovascular care processes.

“The ACC and the AHA have worked together for more than 30 years to develop cardiovascular clinical guidelines and translate those guidelines into programs and services that shape clinical care and improve patient outcomes,” said ACC CEO Shal Jacobovitz. “Through this collaboration we can increase the scope and positive impact of accreditation on cardiovascular patient care.”

The ACC added accreditation services to its suite of cardiovascular quality improvement offerings for hospitals and other facilities earlier this year when the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care merged with the College. Over the last 18 years, SCPC has accredited more than 1,000 hospitals and other facilities to improve clinical processes for the early assessment, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

For more than a decade, the AHA has been raising the bar for cardiovascular and stroke care through accreditation and certification programs and its award-winning quality improvement initiatives that reach over 2,000 hospitals and impact the care of millions of patients across the country.

By joining forces, the ACC and AHA aim to identify and recognize high performing and complex cardiovascular service lines across the nation and provide unbiased, actionable and achievable benchmarks for all hospital and clinical leaders to use as they work to raise their own standards of clinical performance.

“Bringing together the collective resources and expertise of our two organizations, we have a unique opportunity to further accelerate the improvement of cardiovascular care for all Americans,” said AHA CEO Nancy Brown. “This collaboration builds upon our shared commitment to transform health care and help people live healthier lives free of cardiovascular diseases.”

Learn more at cardiacaccreditation.org.

American Heart Association
The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke –  the two leading causes of death in the world. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit heart.org or call any of our offices around the country.  Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

American College of Cardiology
The American College of Cardiology is a 52,000-member medical society that is the professional home for the entire cardiovascular care team. The mission of the College is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health. The ACC leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. The College operates national registries to measure and improve care, offers cardiovascular accreditation to hospitals and institutions, provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research and bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet stringent qualifications. For more, visit acc.org.

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