Heart Failure Center Certification aims to enhance patient outcomes worldwide

More than 56 million people globally live with heart failure (HF), which prevents the body from getting enough of the oxygen-rich blood it needs to work properly.

While there is no cure for HF, many people with this condition can live full, enjoyable lives and disease progression can be slowed with the right treatment. Research shows that outcomes for patients with HF improve when health care professionals and hospitals provide guideline-directed medical therapies.

A new Heart Failure Center Certification is an effort from the American Heart Association, a global force for changing the future of health of all, to help reduce the more than 5 million years lived with disability due to HF around the world. The hospital-based, continuous quality improvement program is being launched in 13 countries bringing this gold standard in HF care to communities outside the U.S. for the first time.

Heart Failure Center Certification will recognize hospitals dedicated to improving HF care in their communities. By promoting evidence-based treatments and seamless transitions from hospital to outpatient care, the certification strives to enhance patient outcomes and reduce hospital readmissions.

"Aligned with the American Heart Association's vision of changing the future of health for all, this certification aims to reduce death and disability from cardiovascular diseases by enabling more facilities across the globe to deliver comprehensive, evidence-based heart failure care," said : D.P. Suresh, M.D., FAHA, American Heart Association volunteer, incoming co-chair of the American Heart Association's International Committee and executive medical director of Florence Wormald Heart and Vascular Institute at St. Elizabeth Physicians. "The science is clear: hospitals and the patients they serve benefit from a coordinated heart failure program."

Certification standards are developed independently and overseen by mission-driven organizations with the clinical background required to focus on patient-centered quality health care, safety and value.