Holzer Health System Earns National Recognition
Holzer Health System has been recognized by the American Heart Association (AHA) and American Medical Association (AMA) for their commitment to helping improve blood pressure (BP) control rates among the patient populations they serve, earning Gold level recognition as part of the 2020 Target: BP™ Recognition Program. The Gold award recognizes practices that have 70 percent or more of their adult patient population with high BP controlled.
Hypertension (high BP) is a leading risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, and preventable death in the U.S. In addition, there are 116 million U.S. adults living with high BP and less than half of those people have their BP under control – making both diagnosing and effectively managing hypertension critical. Following the Surgeon General’s Call-to-Action to prioritize hypertension control in the U.S. and research in JAMA showing that overall rates of BP control have declined in recent years, optimizing hypertension control could not be more timely or needed.
Target: BP is a national collaboration between the AHA and the AMA aimed at reducing the number of Americans who suffer from heart attacks and strokes each year by urging physician practices, health systems and patients to prioritize BP control. The initiative aims to help health care organizations improve BP control rates through use of the evidence-based AMA MAP BP™ quality improvement program, and recognizes organizations committed to improving blood pressure control.
The Target: BP Recognition Program celebrates physician practices and health systems, who treat patients with hypertension, for achieving BP control rates at or above 70 percent within the populations they serve. These achievements will ultimately lead to a reduction in the number of Americans who suffer heart attacks and strokes.
In addition, Holzer has received the AHA’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes℠ Gold Award for implementing quality improvement measures addressing the relationship between diabetes and cardiovascular disease in outpatient settings.
Every 80 seconds, an adult with diabetes in the U.S. is hospitalized for heart disease, which can lead to a heart attack. To earn the Target: Type 2 Diabetes℠ award, organizations must commit to improving the health of their patients through high quality care related to type 2 diabetes and management of cardiovascular risk factors with the ultimate goal of reducing cardiovascular deaths, heart attacks, and strokes in people living with type 2 diabetes. The Gold award recognizes practices that have fulfilled the Participant criteria AND have met the gold level thresholds for each of two selected clinical measures related to diabetes control and CVD risk factors, hypertension and high cholesterol.
“Holzer Health System is dedicated to providing specialized care for patients with type 2 diabetes in managing their cardiovascular risk factors,” said Matt Mossburg, Director, Population Health Services, Holzer Health System. “We are pleased to be recognized by the American Heart Association for our execution of quality care through Target: Type 2 Diabetes. The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”
“More than 30 million Americans live with diabetes and cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for people living with type 2 diabetes,” said Gregg C. Fonarow, MD, FAHA, volunteer expert from the American Heart Association and chief of the UCLA Division of Cardiology, director of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center, and co-director of UCLA’s Preventive Cardiology Program. “Organizations that participate in programs like this help raise awareness of the link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease and can improve the patient outcomes. We are pleased to recognize Holzer for their commitment to quality care.”
Holzer Population Health works with our patients to offer preventative health services, which improves the patient’s health status and promotes healthy outcomes in our communities. Improving population health involves understanding our regional health needs and optimizing solutions and programs for the health of our citizens as defined by those needs.
Holzer Health System, along with other health systems being recognized, will be featured in upcoming Target: BP materials. This includes appearing on TargetBP.org, and acknowledged at AMA and AHA events throughout the year. For more information on Population Health Services, call 1-855-4-HOLZER.
