North End Receives American Heart Association Certification
North End Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center has earned the Skilled Nursing Facility Heart Failure Certification offered by the American Heart Association, the world’s leading voluntary organization focused on heart and brain health. The certification provides an evidence-based framework for evaluating skilled nursing facilities against the American Heart Association’s rigorous science-based requirements for heart failure patients, including program management, patient and caregiver education and support, care coordination, clinical management and quality improvement.
“Participation in this certification benefits the patient and the facility by standardizing care practices,” said Cory Woods, DNP, MHA, MSN, RN, volunteer chair of the American Heart Association’s Quality Certification Business Management Committee and assistant chief clinical officer at Rockport Healthcare Services in Los Angeles. “When there are clear processes during every phase of care, patients have the best opportunity for positive outcomes.”
Nearly 1 in 4 heart failure patients are readmitted within 30 days of discharge and approximately half are readmitted within six months; about one-quarter of readmissions may be preventable. This certification can support facilities’ efforts to stop preventable readmissions.
“Heart failure patients need high-quality care after leaving the hospital that follows evidence-based guidelines, giving them the best chance to improve their health,” said Armani Sepe, a licensed nursing home administrator. “We want to be trailblazers and continue to use innovative methods to give our heart failure patients the best care. The American Heart Association has armed us with additional tools and recognized our success. It is an honor to have our processes and efforts recognized in this way.”
To be eligible for this certification, the facility must be in the U.S. or a U.S. territory and implement a heart failure program that uses a standardized method of delivering clinical care based on current evidence-based guidelines. Learn more about this certification and others at www.Heart.org/CertifiedCare.
