Baylor Medical Center at Irving awarded Heart Failure Accreditation

Written by Phil Cerroni

Baylor Medical Center at Irving recently earned the full Heart Failure Accreditation status from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care. The Society’s goal is to help facilities manage the heart failure patient more efficient and improve patient outcomes. All other Baylor facilities have applied to receive this accreditation. By the end of 2012, Baylor Health Care System expects to announce those accreditations as well.

“At Baylor Irving, quality and patient-centered care continue to be the cornerstone of everything we do,” said Cindy Schamp, president, Baylor Medical Center at Irving. “Receiving heart failure accreditation reaffirms our commitment to improving patient outcomes through evidence-based care processes while continuing to provide safe, quality, compassionate care.”

More people are developing heart failure because of increasing life spans, survival of heart attacks, and other medical conditions that put them at risk for heart failure. People 40 and older have a 1 in 5 chance of developing heart failure in their lifetime, according to the American Heart Association. More than 5 million people in the United States—mostly older adults—already have heart failure.

In addition, heart failure patients are responsible for 12 to 15 million physician office visits per year and 6.5 million hospital days according to the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care.

Baylor Irving demonstrated the clinical staff’s expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and undergoing an onsite review by a team of the Society’s accreditation review specialists. Accreditation expires in October 2015.

The protocol-driven and systematic approach to patient management allows physicians to reduce time to treatment and to risk stratify patients to decrease their length of stay.

Source: Baylor Medical Center at Irving