Quality Improvement

Heart and Stroke Programs Recognized

Congratulations! UCLA Health System has been chosen as one of the first recipients of the ACTION Registry Get-With-The-Guidelines (GWTG) Silver Performance Achievement Award for our excellence in implementing safe and effective patient care practices and providing key evidence-based therapies and counseling. Sponsored by the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association, GWTG is a quality improvement program designed to help hospitals save more lives and enhance quality of life for coronary artery disease, stroke and heart failure patients and their families by improving inpatient outcomes and reducing recurring events.

This new, annual National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) award recognizes participating hospitals that have followed treatment guidelines in certain key measures at least 85 percent of the time, and have maintained this performance level for one year. By virtue of our participation and our team's incredible hard work and the quality of care we provide, we've earned this great recognition.

Dr. Gregg Fonarow, director of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center, developed the performance improvement system — Cardiovascular Hospitalization Atherosclerosis Management Program (CHAMP) — that became the forerunner for GWTG. He continues to play a major role in shaping the program by serving as the GWTG national steering committee chair.