| | Gundersen Lutheran designated a UnitedHealth Premium cardiac specialty center
Gundersen Lutheran recently received more national recognition for the cardiac care provided to patients. UnitedHealthcare designated Gundersen Lutheran a UnitedHealth PremiumSM cardiac specialty center—the only hospital in the Tri-state Region to receive this distinction.
“We are honored to receive this designation, which is continued validation of the extraordinary work performed here every day,” says cardiologist Paul Schoenfeld, MD, department chair of Cardiology in the Heart Institute. “Hospitals are not all the same when it comes to heart care. We are pleased to be nationally recognized for our superior quality, care and results.”
UnitedHealthcare is the largest business unit of UnitedHealth Group and provides a full spectrum of resources and services to help people achieve improved health and well being. UnitedHealthcare and its sister company, Uniprise, serve more than 18 million individual consumers as members of various health service systems. The company arranges access to care by more than 340,000 physicians and 3,500 hospitals across 35 U.S. and four international markets. The UnitedHealthcare Premium designation program for cardiac care identifies hospitals and specialists nationwide that are leaders in providing cardiac care.
“Patients who require cardiac care need to know they are getting quality treatment,” says Lewis Sandy, MD, an internist and executive vice president of clinical strategies at UnitedHealthcare. “Our goal is to enhance the overall quality of care for our customers and enrollees. The UnitedHealth Premium designation signals to all consumers that Gundersen Lutheran meets or exceeds nationally recognized standards of care.”
Gundersen Lutheran was measured against quality and cost efficiency benchmarks. In order to become designated as a cardiac specialty center, Gundersen Lutheran had to meet evidence-based criteria in several categories, including:
- Breadth of care
- Depth of care
- Staff experience
- Emergency care
- Quality and data management
The program also measures hospital efficiency by analyzing the total cost of care at an individual patient level for his/her complete treatment episode and comparing it to the expected cost of caring for a similar episode in the hospital’s local area based on UnitedHealthcare claims data.
The criteria were developed with input from a panel of nationally recognized independent cardiology experts and based on published guidelines set by the American College of Cardiology, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Heart Rhythm Society and the Leapfrog Group, a coalition of more than 150 public and private organizations that provide healthcare benefits.
“Measuring up to these standards requires a commitment to excellence in cardiac care not just in the Heart Institute, but throughout the entire organization,” says Diane Larson, RN, MSN, administrative director, Heart Institute. “This designation would not be possible without committed teamwork by everyone at Gundersen Lutheran.”
Gundersen Lutheran’s superior cardiac care was recognized by many other organizations this year. Other honors include:
- Recognized as a Top 100 cardiovascular hospital by Solucient, a healthcare information and research firm. It was the third time Gundersen Lutheran received the national Top 100 cardiovascular hospital distinction.
- Named number one in Wisconsin for medical cardiac care and number two in Wisconsin for cardiac interventions by a national ranking firm
- 2005 VHA Award for Clinical Excellence
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