UCI Health achieves American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines Gold Plus — Heart Failure award

Orange, Calif. — UCI Health has again received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Gold Plus award for demonstrating commitment to following up-to-date, research-based guidelines for the treatment of heart disease and stroke, ultimately leading to more lives saved, shorter recovery times and fewer hospital readmissions.

UCI Health received Gold Plus honor roll awards for both its heart failure and type 2 diabetes programs.

“UCI Health is dedicated to improving care by adhering to the latest treatment guidelines and streamlining processes to ensure timely and proper care for heart attacks and strokes,” said Dr. Joseph Carmichael, chief medical officer for UCI Health.

“The Get With the Guidelines program makes it easier for our teams to put proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis, which helps us ensure more people in Orange County experience longer, healthier lives.”

UCI Health is also the first heart failure program in Southern California to earn the Gold Seal of Approval™ certification by The Joint Commission, the nation’s predominant, standard-setting and accrediting body in healthcare.

Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a stroke or heart attack. Heart disease and stroke are the No. 1 and No. 5 U.S. causes of death, respectively. Studies show that when providers consistently follow treatment guidelines, heart disease and stroke patients recover better.

The UCI Health Heart Failure Program brings together a team of cardiologists, electrophysiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons at UCI Medical Center who provide comprehensive inpatient and outpatient care to people with moderate to severe heart failure. The team uses the most advanced, evidence-based medicines, devices, surgical therapies and technologies.

As part of Orange County’s only academic health system, the heart failure program and its specialists are leaders in research and clinical trials for heart failure and cardiomyopathy.

For patients with advanced heart failure who need mechanical assistance, UCI Health is the only cardiovascular center in Orange County certified to implant lifesaving left ventricular assist devices (LVAD).

Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program, providing hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, the Get With The Guidelines program has touched the lives of more than 12 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org ›

UCI Health is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine, and the only academic health system in Orange County. Patients can access UCI Health at primary and specialty care offices across Orange County and at its main campus, UCI Medical Center in Orange, Calif. The 459-bed, acute care hospital, listed among America’s Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report for 22 consecutive years, provides tertiary and quaternary care, ambulatory and specialty medical clinics, behavioral health and rehabilitation services. UCI Medical Center is home to Orange County’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center and regional burn center. UCI Health serves a region of nearly 4 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.