Geisinger Medical Center awarded for heart failure management

DANVILLE, Pa. – Geisinger Medical Center has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® – Heart Failure Gold Plus quality achievement award for reducing hospital readmissions and giving patients more healthy days at home.

The hospital is also recognized on the association’s Target: Heart FailureSM Honor Roll and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll™.

“We’ve built our heart failure program on a foundation of continual quality improvement, and we set the same high bar for standards that drives the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines – Heart Failure initiative,” said Cinde Bower-Stout, R.N., M.H.A., cardiovascular quality manager for Geisinger’s Heart and Vascular Institute. “We’re honored to be recognized for helping our patients live longer and maintain a good quality of life.”

About 6 million U.S. adults have heart failure, and that figure is expected to increase to more than 8 million by 2030. Heart failure means the heart has a hard time pumping blood and oxygen throughout the body. While there’s no cure, patients can live a quality life by working with their care team to create and follow a treatment plan that may include medication, symptom monitoring and lifestyle changes.

Geisinger’s cardiologists and cardiac surgeons have specialized expertise and can also recommend procedures and implantable devices, such as the left-ventricular assist device, for patients in later stages of heart failure. 

Geisinger Medical Center earned the award by demonstrating commitment to treating patients according to the most up-to-date research- and evidence-based guidelines. 

Program participants qualify for yearly award recognition by demonstrating their commitment to quality heart failure care. They follow treatment guidelines and educate patients to help them manage heart failure at home.

“Our compassionate care teams at Geisinger Medical Center are dedicated to practices that reduce hospital-admission and mortality rates among heart failure patients, said Vishal Mehra, M.D., Ph.D., director of cardiovascular quality and value for the Geisinger Heart & Vascular Institute. “We are grateful to the American Heart Association for acknowledging the work we do to make better health easier for the communities we serve.”

Hospitals on the Target: Heart Failure Honor Roll meet specific criteria that improve medication adherence, provide early follow-up care and coordination, and enhance patient education. The goal is to further reduce hospital readmissions and help patients improve their quality of life in managing this chronic condition.

Facilities that receive the Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award make sure patients with Type 2 diabetes, who might be at higher risk for complications, receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when hospitalized due to heart disease or stroke.

About Geisinger
Geisinger is committed to making better health easier for the more than 1 million people it serves. Founded more than 100 years ago by Abigail Geisinger, the system now includes 10 hospital campuses, a health plan with more than half a million members, a research institute and the Geisinger College of Health Sciences, which includes schools of medicine, nursing and graduate education. With more than 25,000 employees and 1,700+ employed physicians, Geisinger boosts its hometown economies in Pennsylvania by billions of dollars annually. Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.