DALLAS, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association and Thomson Medstat announce hospitals can now participate more efficiently in the American Heart Association's award winning quality improvement program, Get With The Guidelines(SM) (GWTG). An enhancement to the Thomson Medstat Core Measures software allows hospitals to transfer patient data for acute myocardial infarction and heart failure directly into the GWTG patient management tool. This enhancement, offered in Medstat Core Measures version 6.4, released December 2006, eliminates the need for duplicative entry of data already collected for Joint Commission (JCAHO) measure sets.
GWTG helps hospitals close the gap between recommended treatment and actual treatment of patients with coronary heart disease, stroke, and heart failure. The program emphasizes protocols created to ensure cardiovascular patients are cared for according to nationally accepted standards and the latest evidence-based guidelines and recommendations. Hospitals implementing GWTG generally see measurable improvements in the quality of care in a short period of time.
"We are pleased to offer Thomson Medstat hospital customers this new enhancement that can positively impact the capabilities to provide better quality of care to heart patients," said Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., American Heart Association volunteer chairman for the national GWTG Steering Committee. "The direct upload capabilities offered in version 6.4 not only resolve data entry duplication, but also provide for better data integrity."
The Medstat Core Measures solution helps hospitals support multiple quality reporting initiatives in one application, with timely and error-free reporting, risk-adjusted outcomes measures for validation of performance improvement, and the ability to keep pace with multiple reporting requirements for JCAHO, CMS and more. In addition to the benefits provided by Medstat Core Measures, GWTG offers three modules: coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke. Participating hospitals receive:
* national and local recognition for adherence to guidelines;
* ongoing quality improvement training through accredited educational
opportunities;
* live workshops with collaborative breakout sessions;
* Webinars led by cardiovascular science thought leaders;
* online courses, quality improvement newsletters and local American
Heart Association GWTG staff support.
Thomas Medstat customers can learn more about GWTG by visiting http://americanheart.org/getwiththeguidelines . To learn more about Medstat Core Measures version 6.4, visit http://medstat.com/ .
About Thomson Medstat
The Thomson Corporation is a global leader in providing essential electronic workflow solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson Healthcare provides information that helps health care professionals make critical decisions that improve their own performance and the performance of their organizations. Through Thomson Medstat and Solucient offerings, healthcare providers improve patient quality, safety and outcomes.
About Get With The Guidelines(SM)
GWTG helps hospitals align their care for coronary artery disease, stroke and heart failure patients with the latest scientific guidelines and the tools needed for improving the management of these patients. Through the GWTG three modules -- GWTG Heart Failure, GWTG Stroke, and GWTG Coronary Artery Disease -- cardiologists, neurologists, primary care physicians, nurses and pharmacists are encouraged to work as a team in implementing guidelines based care. Used by more than 1,330 hospitals nationwide since it inception in 2000, GWTG is the first hospital-based program to receive the Innovation in Prevention award from the Health and Human Services Department in 2004.
