State Recognition - Pinnacle Award
Albany Med Receives Prestigious 'Pinnacle Award for Quality and Patient Safety'
The Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) awarded its prestigious quality award to Albany Medical Center for its success in following evidence-based guidelines for patients with heart failure, coronary artery disease and stroke, thereby significantly improving patient care. Albany Med received HANYS' Pinnacle Award for Quality and Patient Safety for the program, "From Guidelines to Lifelines: Improving Quality by Embracing Clinical Guidelines."
Edward Philbin, MD, associate professor and vice chair for clinical affairs, department of medicine, and Governor George E. Pataki Chair in Cardiology, and Gary Bernardini, MD, PhD, associate professor and director of stroke and neurocritical care, departments of neurology and neurosurgery, and Edith M. Hellman and Hellman Family Chair in Stroke Medicine, accepted the award on Wednesday, June 20, surrounded by members of their teams during HANYS' Annual Membership Conference Awards Dinner at The Sagamore on Lake George in Bolton Landing.
"Congratulations to all the members of the cardiovascular and stroke teams for earning this outstanding distinction from the Healthcare Association of New York State. Every hospital in the state was given the opportunity to nominate an outstanding quality effort worthy of this recognition. Yet only one was chosen for the Pinnacle Award. This is the latest honor in the past two years for these outstanding teams who leave no stone unturned in providing the highest quality care to their patients," said Albany Med President Jim Barba.
Albany Medical Center was honored in the Multi-Entity or Large Organization category for its program was designed to improve care provided to patients with acute myocardial infarction, stroke, and heart failure. The Medical Center integrated measures and expectations established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), American College of Cardiology, and American Heart Association "Get With the Guidelines" (GWTG) program and The Joint Commission specifications.
Multidisciplinary quality improvement teams were formed for data collection, benchmarking, and analysis. The teams established program goals, reviewed and amended clinical protocols, and helped develop a Web-based software tool to assist with data tracking and analysis.
After studying almost 12,000 patients in the pre- and post-intervention periods, Albany Medical Center's composite scores in the two cardiac services exceeded 92% and in the stroke service exceeded 94% for the relevant CMS indicators, GWTG specifications, and The Joint Commission requirements. Albany Med was recognized by the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association as one of only two hospitals in the country that achieved 85% or better annual performance on all three GWTG modules, is accredited by The Joint Commission for stroke care, and is a New York State Designated Stroke Center.
Under the protocols, heart patients are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, diuretics and anticoagulants in the hospital. In the case of stroke, they may receive tPA, antithrombotics to prevent blood clots and medicine to prevent deep vein thrombosis. They also receive alcohol, drug and smoking cessation counseling and referrals for rehabilitation before being discharged.
HANYS created the Pinnacle Award for Quality and Patient Safety to recognize member hospitals and health care systems that significantly improve the health and safety of their patients. HANYS shares these "best practices" with its entire membership. A panel of national experts in quality improvement and patient safety judges all entries, looking at such factors as outcomes, cost feasibility, and relevance for other organizations. HANYS, the only statewide hospital and continuing care association in the state, represents more than 550 non-profit and public hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies, and other health care organizations.
