Heart Association considers certifying hospitals based on quality and results.

摘要

Chicago—The American Heart Association (AHA) should explore creating a hospital certification program to enable the public and referring physicians to recognize leading programs offering quality care and impressive outcome data for cardiovascular disease and stroke, said Ralph L. Sacco, MD, the association's president. Sacco's remarks came during the AHA's annual Scientific Sessions held here in November.In an interview, Sacco said the AHA was uniquely positioned to certify quality hospital programs. "The American Heart Association is really front and center in promoting the quality of care for cardiovascular disease and stroke, and we thought it was important to look at how we can improve performance at the hospital level," Sacco said. He and a group of leading cardiovascular disease and stroke researchers put their ideas for implementing such a certification program into an AHA presidential advisory for the association to consider (Fonarow GC et al. Circulation, doi: 10.1161/cir .0b013e3182011a81 [published online ahead of print November 12, 2010]).