(Photo Courtesy of AGH)
(PITTSBURGH,Pa.) Allegheny Health Network’s (AHN) Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), has been awarded the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Comprehensive Hypertension Center Certification. AGH joins AHN’s West Penn Hospital as the only sites in western Pennsylvania with the prestigious designation.
The certification recognizes practices committed to following proven treatment guidelines to fully address the needs of people with complex or difficult-to-treat hypertension (high blood pressure). Designated centers are recognized as national leaders in providing the most up-to-date, effective treatment strategies for hypertension and therefore provide patients with the utmost confidence in their care and long-term outcomes.
“Often referred to as the ‘silent killer,’ hypertension doesn’t always present with obvious symptoms or warning signs. However, more than 103 million adults in the country have high blood pressure, and therefore are at a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, heart and kidney disease and even vision loss,” said Srinivas Murali, MD, department chair of AHN Cardiovascular Medicine. “At the AGH Hypertension Center, our outstanding clinicians identify, manage and treat complex hypertension and its comorbidities with the latest, evidence-based therapies and care approaches. We want to thank the American Heart Association for this certification as it reinforces our unwavering dedication to the health, wellness and long-term outcomes of heart patients throughout the region.”
Hypertension is the most common medical condition in the United States. Its management calls for a concerted, multidisciplinary effort and AGH offers patients care pathways focused on nutrition, rehabilitation, exercise, pharmacological therapies and kidney health, among other areas.
“High blood pressure is one of the leading causes of kidney disease and kidney failure. At the AGH Hypertension Center, nephrologists work closely with hypertension patients to determine the root cause of elevated levels, tailor treatment plans accordingly and continuously monitor for kidney injury,” said Khaled Nashar, MD, division chief of AHN Nephrology and Hypertension and medical director of the AGH Hypertension Center. “We collaborate with the Center’s cardiologists to best manage hypertension across our patient populations with a holistic care approach, and we’re thrilled to receive this prestigious designation from the American Heart Association as it’s an exciting proof point of our team’s continued success.”
The Comprehensive Hypertension Center at AGH underwent several reviews by AHA quality improvement specialists who evaluated the center’s policies, procedures and operations to ensure appropriate diagnosis, evaluation and treatment protocols were in place and executed for hypertension patients. The improvement specialists review diagnostic evaluation capabilities, therapies and interventions in place, research/clinical trial participation and ongoing quality improvement implementation frameworks, among other factors.
Certified practices must be primarily devoted to patients with hypertension and related disorders, be recognized as referral and treatment resources for resistant and secondary hypertension and have facilities and personnel capable of assessing and evaluating complicated hypertension problems. For certification, practices and programs are evaluated against a professional set of criteria based on demonstrated adherence to key standards and a rigorous review process.
“Nearly half of the American population over age 20 has high blood pressure many of whom are unaware putting them at an even higher risk of long-term chronic health conditions or incidents like heart attack and stroke. Therefore, AHA certified hypertension centers are critical for these patients as they increase vital access to the highest quality of diagnosis, blood pressure management practices and innovative therapies all centered in evidence-based treatment guidelines and scientific research,” said Indu Poornima, MD, cardiologist and director of the AHN Division of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention.
Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of achievements and accomplishments awarded to the network’s Cardiovascular Institute (CVI) and Division of Nephrology and Hypertension.
AHN Jefferson and West Penn were named among the nation’s top performing hospitals for treatment -of heart attack patients from the American College of Cardiology, and AGH received a top 3-Star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons for its cardiac surgery program, placing it among the top 5% of programs nationwide. In January, AGH also became the first medical center in Pennsylvania to earn the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for Comprehensive Cardiac Center Certification.
AGH is ranked by the SRTR as the top kidney transplant program for overall patient outcomes in western Pennsylvania, and the organ acceptance rates at the AHN Transplant Institute are twice the national average.
For more information on the AHN Hypertension Centers at AGH and West Penn hospitals, please visit ahn.org/services/