KU Health System Nabs Prized Heart Certification

     Last spring, the nation’s leading accrediting body for medical centers, the Joint Commission, created a new category of performance recognition: Comprehensive Cardiac Center certification. Today, it announced the first organization in the nation to receive that certification–the University of Kansas Health System.

        The certification recognizes heart programs that demonstrate a comprehensive approach to care and a commitment to excellence, along with a dedication to continuous improvement.  Criteria include outstanding patient outcomes and a patient-first philosophy where all specialties collaborate to achieve better patient outcomes.

           In a news release announcing the development, health system CEO Bob Page said “the evaluation process from this national organization was rigorous, and patients can trust this honor as an indicator of quality.  There is no need for any patient to leave the area to get the best, highest quality comprehensive heart care.”

            When the heart program was restructured in 2000, it set a goal of being the best in the region, then best in the country, Page said. “We realized the way to get there was to make everything we do about the patient. This certification validates our approach and confirms we are on the right trajectory.  Every member of the heart team and our entire organization should be both humbled and proud of this certification.”

     The program was designed for hospitals with robust cardiac care facilities, aiming to help organizations establish the structures, processes and culture necessary to achieve sustained levels of effective clinical performance and patient outcomes across cardiac specialties and the continuum of care, the commission said.