The Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center has received the Get With The Guidelines^®–Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association (AHA). This is the third year in a row that the Center has received either a gold or gold plus honor.

The recognition signifies that the Health 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 as outlined by AHA.

Get With The Guidelines is a quality improvement initiative that provides hospital staff with tools that follow proven evidence-based guidelines and procedures in caring for heart failure patients to increase survival and prevent future hospitalizations.

“The Calhoun Cardiology Center is dedicated to making our care for heart failure patients among the best in the country and implementing this program helps us accomplish this goal by making it easier for our professionals to improve the long-term outcome for these patients,” says Dr. Jason Ryan, director of the Heart Failure Center.

“One of our quality initiatives is the ‘Hospital to Home Program’ which helps keep heart failure patients at home and out of the hospital. We provide 24/7 access via telephone to our cardiac nurses and cardiologists,” explains Ryan.

He also says that every patient is scheduled for a follow-up visit with a physician or nurse practitioner within seven days after discharge. Studies suggest that a seven-day evaluation helps keep patients from being readmitted to the hospital.

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.

Follow the UConn Health Center on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.