Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute Honored For Third Consecutive Year for Optimal Treatment of Heart Failure Patients

The Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Murray has received the American Heart Association’s “Get With The Guidelines Heart Failure Gold Award” for the third consecutive year for delivering excellent, evidence-based care for heart failure patients.

The recognition signifies the team has achieved 85 percent compliance for two years in treating heart failure patients according to core standard levels of care as outlined by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology prevention guidelines.

“The AHA has very rigorous standards, and it’s not easy to meet their expectations,” said Deborah Budge, MD, a member of the heart failure and transplant team at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute. “Receiving this award is evidence of our commitment to providing the highest quality of care for our patients in order to get the best outcomes. It’s a testimony of teamwork.”

Get With The Guidelines is a quality improvement initiative that equips hospital staff with evidence-based tools to help them provide better care for heart failure patients and prevent future hospitalizations.

As part of the Get With the Guidelines program at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute, heart failure patients are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, diuretics and anticoagulants while they’re in the hospital. Patients also receive alcohol/drug use and thyroid management counseling, as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before they’re discharged.

“Earning the Heart Association’s Gold Award is a very important indication of the skill of our heart failure team and our commitment to the best practices that help our patients get better faster and avoid complications,” said David Grauer, administrator and CEO of Intermountain Medical Center. “Congratulations to our team for their excellent work and extra-mile dedication.”

The heart failure team provides the best heart failure care possible by bringing a variety of experts together on one team. These physicians each have their own specialties and refined skills: heart failure and transplant cardiology, cardiovascular critical care physicians, heart rhythm specialists and cardiothoracic surgeons. The program also includes pathologists, nurse practitioners, skilled nurses, social workers, financial counselors and dieticians.

The Heart Failure, Transplant and Artificial Heart Program treats more than 5,000 patients with heart failure every year and is one of only a few programs to have performed more than 1,000 cardiac transplants procedures.

The heart failure team will be recognized for its achievement at a ceremony at the AHA’s Scientific Session later this year, in addition to being featured in US News & World Report and in the journal, Circulation.