This post was authored by Dick Kovacs, MD, FACC, former chair of the ACC Board of Governors and chair of the Best Practices and Quality Improvement Subcommittee, part of the College’s Clinical Quality Committee.

***********************

The ACC, the American Heart Association, and the American Medical Association–Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement have released updated performance measures for adults with heart failure (HF) in order to provide further guidance to clinicians on the provision of optimal patient care.

Heart failure is a condition that occurs when the heart can no longer pump enough blood to meet the needs of the body. Because heart failure is often chronic, heart failure patients must work closely with their cardiovascular care team to not only slow the progression of the disease but also control symptoms and improve quality of life.

The newly released performance measures include care provided in both the outpatient and inpatient setting, emphasizing the need to measure care quality over time and across providers, while also focusing on functional outcomes.

The release of these performance measures are a timely reminder about the varied ACC resources to help manage heart failure patients, chief among them the new Heart Failure Practice Solutions “toolkit,” which provides easy access to nine tools (one for patients and eight for clinicians). This toolkit is intended to help cardiovascular professionals and others brush up on guideline recommendations for HF care; understand what to report for HF performance measures; prescribe appropriate drug therapies for HF patients; provide quality education and self-management strategies to patients; and assess performance improvement.

The Hospital to Home (H2H) Initiative led by the ACC and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement is another important resource for hospitals and cardiovascular care providers interested in improving heart failure patient transitions from hospital to “home.” Implementation of the H2H principles may help institutions avoid federal penalties associated with high readmissions rates. The H2H initiative challenges communities to better understand and tackle readmission problems through use of recommended tools and improvement strategies in three core concept areas: Early Follow-up, Post Discharge Medication Management, and Patient Recognition of Signs and Symptoms.

Beyond heart failure, the College has identified several other areas where the quality of care could be improved using recommended guidelines, appropriate use criteria and/or performance measures. I, working along with other ACC leaders and staff, am currently working to identify best practices for both atrial fibrillation and coronary revascularization. Similar to the Heart Failure toolkit, tools for each will range from web-based forms and check lists to pocket guidelines. It is our hope these tools will introduce real-time, easy-to-use solutions that cross the spectrum of quality, advocacy, and education and bring about real change.

For more details on the new Heart Failure Performance Measures as well as ACC resources, click here.

< Back to Listings