Accreditation Overview

Think of accreditation as a journey that leads to decreased length-of-stay, reduced readmission rates, lower costs, and a more cohesive multidisciplinary team.

Our accreditation programs ensure that systemic, quality-of-care measures are met and that requisite protocols, processes, and systems are put in place to produce the most effective care delivery model for heart failure patients. Accreditation will help hospitals to better understand how evidence-based science, quality initiatives, process improvement, and guidelines can be combined and implemented to improve a hospital's performance, patient throughput, and the quality and consistency of care. In short, it better positions a hospital as a preferred provider of cardiovascular care.

Heart Failure v3, the tool that helps you:

• Creating a successful HF disease management program
• Reducing HF readmissions
• Manage HF more effectively in both the pre-hospital and Emergency Department settings in order to reduce delays in treatment
• Establish Observation Services processes
• Improve patient satisfaction scores
• Engaged care coordination of the multidisciplinary team across the entire care continuum
• Reducing CMS penalties associated with VBP

Heart Failure v3 Designations

Heart Failure v3: This accreditation is for facilities that must transfer/refer patients that require heart transplant or other more advanced types of mechanical circulatory support.
Advanced Heart Failure v3: This accreditation designation has been established for facilities that demonstrate management of advanced heart failure; this may include heart transplant and mechanical circulatory support. These facilities must have an identified HF Specialist provider and meet other specific mandatory criteria.

Benefits & Features of Heart Failure Accreditation

A Collaborative Approach

ACC's approach to Heart Failure (HF) Accreditation is radically different from others that set specifications and measure compliance. ACC's Review Specialists take a collaborative approach by providing feedback, education and resources to assist the facility in addressing gaps and improving processes.

• To get started on the right track, HF v3 Accreditation mandates attendance at an educational workshop and recommends participation in monthly Ask-the-Experts conference calls to help you along the way.
• HF v3 Accreditation requires a site visit to your facility where you share with the ACC reviewer what your facility has done to improve the delivery of care to your HF patient population and where we share best practices and ideas from our experiences.
• HF v3 Accreditation tools are evaluated on a quarterly basis to ensure that they keep pace with the advancing science as reflected in published research and guidelines.

Actionable Data

• HF v3 Accreditation includes an Accreditation Conformance Database (ACD) with on-demand access to over 40 calculated measures across the continuum of care
• Performance metrics track the quality of care delivered and opportunities for improvement
• Links process improvement to patient outcomes and performance scores
• HF v3's Calculated Measures offer access to the patient level data you need to make the directed interventions that count
• Designed for clinicians by clinicians, HF v3 keeps patient flow at the center of data aggregation
• A vast range of clinical scenarios, metrics and process drill-downs show you everything from population length-of-stay and readmission rates to Emergency Department throughput, specific provider type care measures, rate of consults and much more
• View data elements presented for your entire heart failure population as well as through the presentation of individual patient encounters

Enhanced Guidance, Improved Outcomes

• Better identification of and defined referral process of patients requiring advanced therapy
  
• Increased resources within all Guidance Statements and References
  
• Additional clinical guidance regarding appropriate use of Observation Services
  
• Focused data utilization to reduce 30-day readmissions, improve patient satisfaction, decrease length-of-stay and inpatient mortality

Heart Failure v3 Essential Components Organize and Streamlines Process Improvement Efforts

Governance – Implement proven practices to orchestrate, monitor, and optimize clinical processes, including how to organize a multidisciplinary care team.
Community Outreach –Increase public awareness and affect behavior with education, website content, public service announcements, and partnerships with local businesses, employers, and healthcare providers.
Pre-Hospital Care – Integrate out-of-hospital interventions delivered by community healthcare providers and first responders.
Early Stabilization –Speed diagnosis and treatment to mitigate life-threatening conditions. Improve risk stratification and patient flow, including those in the observation setting.
Acute Care – Employ a multidisciplinary, patient-centric approach from admission through discharge. Utilization of standardized order sets; visibility into length-of-stay (LOS) and optimal patient outcomes.
Transitional Care – Prevent unnecessary readmissions with established care coordination at discharge, including early follow-up care and patient/family education.
Clinical Quality Measures – Track the entire process from patient presentation through discharge and follow-up care to identify problem areas, duplication of efforts, or wasted resources.

Next Steps

Ready to move forward? The best way to begin is to:

• View pre-recorded HF Webinar
• Purchase HF v3 Accreditation Services
• Attend a HF v3 Workshop – the first registration is included and additional registrations can be purchased online
• Leverage HF v3 Shared Practices from hospitals across the country
• Contact us — we're here to help you: 614-442-5950 or accreditationinfo@acc.org

From the HF v3 Work Group

. . . HF v3 will give you the tools you need to improve . . .

The development of the HF v3 tool was founded in science, best practices and the clinical expertise of our entire writing committee. This tool encompasses all of the necessary pieces, processes and components needed to create, develop, improve upon or sustain a successful HF program. Through a foundation of guideline-driven medical therapy that spans the entire care continuum, the education and resources are a true roadmap for improved patient care delivery and outcomes. The utilization of patient-level, heart-failure-specific data and measures is like nothing else available in any other registry or database. Whether you are part of a large academic transplant center or a small community referral center HF v3 will give you the tools you need to improve upon all outcomes both financial and most importantly the length and quality of life of the patients you serve.