Phoenixville Hospital nationally recognized for heart failure care

Receives Heart Association award for third straight year

PHOENIXVILLE » For the third consecutive year, Phoenixville Hospital has received national recognition for its diagnosis and treatment of heart failure patients.

The hospital has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

“Phoenixville Hospital is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our patients with heart failure by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-HF initiative,” Steve Tullman, president and CEO of Phoenixville Hospital said in a press release. “The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”’

To earn the award, Phoenixville Hospital was required to meet specific quality achievement measures of diagnosis and treatment – maintaining results at a specific level for a designated period of time, according to the release. The measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and aggressive riskreduction therapies.

Extracted information collected from patients is automatically sent to the American Heart Association through a database, according to Chief Quality Of-

ficer Sue Reichenbach.

Reichenbach added that the data shows the hospital is “consistently providing” the care needed for its patients.

This year, Phoenixville Hospital, which serves about 300 inpatients a year for heart failure, has “stepped up” its education, according to Reichenbach. She added that the education is “what’s most important” to provide to the nurses and the rest of the staff, who meet monthly to review their progress.

“To us, it’s amazing because it means we’re providing the quality of care that we want to deliver,” said Susan Graham, marketing director for the hospital.

Phoenixville Hospital was also recognized on the American Heart Association’s Target: Heart Failure

Honor Roll. The hospital was required to meet specific criteria, which “improves medication adherence, provides early followup care and coordination, and enhances patient education,” according to the release.

“The goal is to reduce hospital readmissions and help patients improve their quality of life in managing this chronic condition,” the release states.

“We’re hitting it out of the park. It’s like getting an A-plus on a report card in all of your subjects,” Graham added.

More than 6.5 million adults in the United States alone are living with heart failure, according to the American Heart Association.

For more information about Phoenixville Hospital visit www.towerhealth.org.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Phoenixville Hospital has been recognized for its diagnosis and treatment of heart failure. In this photo is the hospital’s heart failure team, from left to right: Rebecca Nyman, Barbara O’Connor, Sandy Crabtree, Cheryl Wenrich-Smith, Sue Reichenbach, Rebecca Alt, Sharon Thomas and Kathleen Clarke.