With increased penalties in effect for hospitals with excessive readmissions for heart attack and heart failure, last year the ACC launched a program that applies a team approach to keeping patients at home and healthy after discharge.

The ACC created the Patient Navigator Program to support a team of caregivers at selected hospitals to help patients overcome challenges during their hospital stay and in the weeks following discharge when they are at most risk for readmission. Hospitals have been given funding to establish a program that supports a culture of patient-centered care that can potentially be implemented in other hospitals in the future. The first hospital participants were announced in December, and over the last several weeks, ACC leaders and representatives from AstraZeneca, the founding sponsor of the program, have been attending the launch of the program at hospitals across the country.

The most recent hospital launches include MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Trident Health, WakeMed Health and Hospital, Advocate Sherman Hospital, Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute and Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.

Visit CardioSource.org/PatientNavigator for more information about the program, and visit ACC’s Facebook page for additional photos from the launches.

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