What is Heart Failure (HF)?
Heart failure, also called congestive heart failure (CHF), is a life-threatening condition in which the heart can no longer pump enough blood to the rest of the body. Heart failure is almost always a chronic, long-term condition, although it can sometimes develop suddenly. This condition may affect the right side, left side, or both sides of the heart. Learn more about heart failure.
How is Care Measured?
When someone is experiencing heart failure, timely, clear-cut treatment is critical. Evidence has shown that patients who received specific treatments and medications at certain times experienced the best outcomes. These procedures and medications include:
- Assessment of Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction;
- ACE Inhibitor or ARB for Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction (LVSD);
- Discharge instructions;
- Smoking cessation advise/counseling.
University Hospitals Case Medical Center exceeds averages for the region and across the nation for the above heart failure care standards
You may view the details for each measurement by visiting the Health and Human Services web site called “Hospital Compare.”
Heart Failure
| UH Case Medical Center Hospital Process of Care Measure |
Percentage for UH Case |
State Average
|
National Average |
| Percent of Heart Failure Patients Given Discharge Instructions |
91% |
91% |
89% |
| Percent of Heart Failure Patients Given an Evaluation of Left Ventricular Systolic (LVS) Function
|
100% |
99% |
98% |
| Percent of Heart Failure Patients Given Ace Inhibitor or ARB for Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction (LVSD)
|
98% |
96% |
95% |
| Percent of Heart Failure Patients Given Smoking Cessation Advice/Counseling
|
100% |
99% |
99% |
How is Process of Care Measured?
University Hospitals participates in the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC): a nationwide alliance of academic medical centers and their affiliated hospitals. This group represents approximately 90% of the nation’s non-profit academic medical centers.
The UHC maintains a comparative database of healthcare measures which have been established to indicate the overall quality of commonly-performed medical procedures. Criteria for measuring heart attack outcomes include:
Mortality Rate
Why is this important to you as a patient?
Mortality rate is an indicator of good patient care process.
A lower number is better.
How do we compare outcomes?
UHCMC participates in the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) comparative database along with more than 100 other academic centers across the country. The national comparison shown below compares our outcomes to those of other nationally-recognized academic medical centers.
Results:
UHCMC’s HF mortality rate is slightly higher than expected.