Achieving Certification to Elevate Cardiac Care

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading global cause of death with more than 17.9 million deaths each year, while nearly 80 percent of all cardiac events are preventable. These alarming statistics pose a challenge to the entirety of the healthcare industry: treatments and strategies must be implemented to enhance the value and quality of care for patients diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases.

The American Heart Association (AHA) and The Joint Commission have joined forces to provide an unprecedented focus on enhancing cardiovascular patient care through a range of innovative, disease-specific hospital certifications while improving outcomes for those hospitalized with cardiovascular conditions. 

The American Heart Association and The Joint Commission offer the following cardiac certifications to create patient-centric quality care:

• Comprehensive Cardiac Center (CCC)
  A premier certification awarded to hospitals with a robust cardiac care service line that demonstrates a high-quality care approach. This certification is given to hospitals that demonstrate an integrated care delivery program, improved communication across all mediums and a continued assessment of quality data while being considered a driver of health in their community.
• Primary Heart Attack Center (PHAC)
  Centers achieving PHAC certification are a part of a heart attack system of care and provide consistent treatment for ST Elevated Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) Heart Attack patients. These facilities expertly assess symptom onset, meet performance measures and provide seamless care to their cardiac patients. They are ready 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year to perform Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCI).
• Acute Heart Attack Ready (AHAR)
  AHAR centers are a critical point in the system by identifying patients having a heart attack, assessing symptoms and providing consistent treatment for their patients. AHAR centers have limited or no PCI capabilities, depending on the center; whereas PHAC centers have the capability to perform PCI at any time. AHAR centers expertly work with inter-facility transport teams to transfer patients to a PCI-capable hospital for appropriate care in a timely manner.
• Advanced Certification in Heart Failure (ACHF)
  This certification recognizes hospital inpatient and outpatient programs that demonstrate exceptional guideline-driven care, improved outcomes and optimal quality of life for their heart failure patients.

These certifications will guide hospitals to offer the best cardiac care possible by providing a framework for success, reducing unwanted variations in care, increasing efficiencies and creating a culture of excellence and cohesiveness.

The standard of care is transforming. Hospitals need the latest evidence-based science to ensure that their patients are well cared for and have a positive experience during their hospital stay. The AHA and The Joint Commission are treating these certifications as a learning collaborative, putting emphasis on getting patients to the right facility at the right time, while also providing the correct information about their diagnosis. It is simply not enough to only care for a patient when they are physically in the hospital. Steps must be taken to provide preventative care for patients before they need hospitalization, as cardiac symptoms arise, as well as receive the correct care once a cardiac episode arises.

“Hospital certifications provide fundamentals of value-based healthcare that offer the organization and healthcare professionals the essential foundation, tools, resources and processes they need to understand and navigate the challenges of patient-centered and high-value healthcare,” said Alice Jacobs, chair of the AHA Quality Accreditation Science Committee.

Hospitals must provide evidence that their organization is able to effectively take care of heart attack patients and save more lives from cardiovascular disease, and that is where certifications become a must-have. Certified centers have the means to create a multidisciplinary group of professionals who have the same goal of improving quality care. The AHA and The Joint Commission strive for every hospital to get the certifications because they address five big concepts for a successful hospital environment: program management, delivering and facilitating care, performance measurement, supporting self-management, and clinical information. Dr. David Baker, executive vice president of The Joint Commission, said “having ‘external eyes’ sometimes identifies deficiencies, but it also identifies ways that strong organizations can improve further—there is no higher priority for health systems than improving the quality of care they provide.” An incentive to acquire these certifications is that hospitals can be recognized by an emergency medical system (EMS) as being capable of handling heart attacks and different levels of cardiac care. EMS organizations need to know which hospitals have the capability to be a part of their regional emergency care systems, so they can be confident in where to send their patients with suspected heart attacks.

Certifications give patients and families an impartial source to let them know that a hospital is trustworthy. Through data analysis, the AHA and The Joint Commission collaborate on quality improvement activities, helping hospitals achieve the highest possible performance in cardiovascular disease care. “The AHA and The Joint Commission collaboration allows rapid translation of the latest science into new standards and performance measures, as well as the opportunity to work together to drive improvement,” Baker said. The two organizations want to transform cardiac protocol to give everyone the best chance at survival and the highest quality of life through their experience at a certified hospital. “Where you live should not determine the quality of care outcomes if you have a heart attack. Everyone deserves to have the same excellent quality of care,” Jacobs said. In addition to developing certifications, the AHA and The Joint Commission want to facilitate the continuity of care between providers and hospitals in order to make the patient experience as seamless as possible.

To learn how your hospital can earn these certifications visit: Heart.org/certification and https://pages.jointcommission.org/DSC-2019-Cardiac-MH.html.