Heart Failure Accreditation
Through our Heart Failure Accreditation program, ACC provides a supportive and collaborative approach to help your facility treat heart failure patients. From guiding you through a gap analysis and preparing you to work toward the adoption of and compliance with the latest guidelines, this indispensable tool is a roadmap for quality improvement. Accredited facilities have found that employing best practices and implementing other proven quality initiatives leads to greater operational efficiency and a more consistent approach to treatment throughout the continuum of care. Most importantly, accreditation demonstrates your commitment to your patients, your community, and your talented team of clinicians, administrators, and policymakers.
Learn why tackling Transitions of Care prompts hospitals to earn Heart Failure Accreditation.
On-Demand Heart Failure Accreditation Webinars
Want to learn more about the benefits of Heart Failure (HF) Accreditation? Our Accreditation Clinical Product Manager has recorded informational webinars that provide an overview of key Accreditation topics and explains how your steps toward process improvement can provide valuable insight into the performance and management of a goal-driven HF service line.
There are two types of designations for Heart Failure Accreditation. Each is based on a facility's treatment capabilities and strategies.
Heart Failure: This accreditation is for all facilities that treat acute heart failure patients. Facilities that do not provide heart transplant or other more advanced types of mechanical circulatory support services must have transfer (referral) protocols in place which addresses access and availability of these services if needed.
Heart Failure with Outpatient Services: This accreditation designation has been established for facilities that demonstrate the management of their HF patients post-discharge.
HF Accreditation applies a holistic approach to the assessment, treatment, and management of the Heart Failure population. The essential components of accreditation drive a facility to implement evidence-based and guideline-driven clinical practices, process improvement, and critical performance measurements across the continuum of HF patient care. It is designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of each decision point while also safeguarding patient care and safe discharge.
Each facility that begins Heart Failure Accreditation is assigned an expert navigator to assist them along the accreditation journey. ACC's Accreditation Review Specialists are highly dedicated clinicians with real-world experience treating cardiovascular (CV) patients in the hospital setting. Individually and collectively, they are an indispensable resource for those who are committed to implementing the essential elements of quality improvement.
Accreditation training prepares facilities to begin the quality and process improvement journey. Each ACC Accreditation includes comprehensive education to orient your staff to the fundamental elements of the accreditation process.
Note: The Accreditation purchase process (including ACC business agreement and payment for initial year of Accreditation participation or recurring annual payment) must be completed in order to gain access to the Accreditation tool and related training. Please contact accreditationinfo@acc.org for more information.
HOPE
The American College of Cardiology in partnership with Haymarket Medical Education offers HOPE (Improving Heart Failure Outcomes Through Personalized Education). It's
free to create a HOPE account and free to take any of the 30 live and online certified education activities designed to help improve heart failure (HF) patient care and outcomes.
JACC
The American College of Cardiology publishes several highly-regarded journals, including JACC Heart Failure. Some of the tools and features of the Journals of
the American College of Cardiology are only available to subscribers or users with an online account.
CardioSmart
CardioSmart is the patient education and empowerment
initiative developed by the American College of Cardiology. Included on the web site are great tools for clinicians as well as caregivers and CV patients who want to better understand how to prevent, treat and manage cardiovascular disease.
Clinical Toolkits and Quality Campaigns
From clinical toolkits (such as the Treat HF App)
that help you to implement guidelines-based and best practice care to campaigns that target specific gaps in quality by motivating widespread adoption of evidence-based practices, ACC’s quality improvement initiatives are designed to help you establish and achieve important goals for your facility.
We’re often asked about HF Accreditation and topics related to treatment of the HF patient. Included here are a few responses from our accreditation experts to several frequently asked questions on important topics related to the accreditation process and HF treatment.
If you have questions about any of our Accreditation or Certification programs, please email us at accreditationinfo@acc.org.
