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American Heart Association commends IOM report on using data to improve healthcare


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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dallas, April 15, 2013 — American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown issued the following statement today on the Institute of Medicine’s new discussion paper, “Making the Case for Continuous Learning from Routinely Collected Health Data”:

“We applaud the Institute of Medicine for identifying the importance of using routinely-collected data to improve our health, our healthcare delivery and our investments in healthcare costs. It’s vital that healthcare decisions are based on the best available evidence. The American Heart Association/ American Stroke Association is proud to be a leader in this area.

We launched our award-winning Get With The Guidelines quality improvement program in 2000 to provide healthcare providers with a systematic approach to measure and improve the quality of care they deliver for heart disease and stroke. Now implemented in more than 2,000 hospitals, it’s evolved with tools, information and resources that empower patients to work in tandem with their providers to take personal responsibility to lead healthier lives.

Get With The Guidelines supports in-hospital care for coronary artery disease, heart failure, stroke, resuscitation and atrial fibrillation, along with a module focusing on outpatient care for heart disease, cancer and diabetes. The program boasts an ever-growing database of nearly 5 million patient records, regularly mined as a rich source of research that helps us identify and address gaps in care, including gender and ethnic disparities.

Studies have found hospitals participating in Get With The Guidelines demonstrate greater adherence to national guideline-recommended therapies compared to other publicly-reporting hospitals.  The program has accelerated and improved the use of research and guidelines for cardiovascular and stroke care on a national scale and helps answer our highest priority research questions more effectively and efficiently.

Because of our commitment to this initiative, we’re extremely pleased that our Chief Science Officer, Dr. Rose Marie Robertson, is an author on this important IOM paper. We will continue to lead in this effort, providing hospitals with the latest scientific-based medicine to improve health outcomes for millions of heart disease and stroke patients.”

Read the report at www.iom.edu/makingthecase.

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For Media Inquiries: (214) 706-1173
Cathy Lewis: (214) 706-1324;  Cathy.Lewis@heart.org
Michael Burton: (214) 706-1236;  Michael.Burton@heart.org



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