HFSA Says Failure is Not an Option: Leading the Charge to Improve Preventative Care and Quality Care in the Heart Failure Community.

Bethesda, MD (June 9, 2015) —  The Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) is pleased to announce  a collaborative multi-organizational effort to identify and establish benchmarks to improve the standards of quality care for those impacted by heart failure. On June 8, 2015, in Chicago, IL, the HFSA convened a Quality Care Task Force Initiative which brought together key Heart Failure stakeholders to gather the Heart Failure communities’ views on the current status of HF Quality of Care in the US, and gain insight on ways to make improvements.

The Heart Failure Society of America’s CEO Michele Blair states, “Our goal is to improve upon the systems of care to standardize best practices and ensure continuum of care for patients.  We believe this may be the first such meeting to bring together this many interdisciplinary clinicians to look at this. “

Heart failure is not commonly understood and often not recognized by patients and clinicians due to the multiple symptoms and complexity of the disease. Patients need a multidisciplinary team for improved quality of life and better outcomes.  HFSA is working to educate the public and to raise awareness of the condition.

Facts About Heart Failure in the U.S.

• Between 5 and 6 million Americans have Heart Failure. Heart failure is the only major cardiovascular disorder on the rise.
• Heart Failure has approximately 670,006 new cases diagnosed annually. In comparison, lung cancer affects 106,000 Americans and approximately 235,000 new cases of breast cancer to occur in the United States.

For additional facts, please go here.

This initiative was made possible through a sponsorship by Amgen Inc. and support from Bayer Health Care.

HFSA would also like to thank our collaborative quality care heart failure partner organizations:

 Collaborative Partners:

• American Association of Heart Failure Nurses (AAHFN)
• Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (AECM)
• Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM)
• American College of Cardiology (ACC)
• American Heart Association (AHA)
• Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC)
• Association of Cardiologists of Indian Origin (AACIO)
• American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP)
• International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT)
• Preventative Cardiology Nurses Association (PNCA)
• WomenHeart
• Mended Heart
• Heart Brothers Foundation