PHILADELPHIA —The Joint Commission, in conjunction with The American Heart Association, has awarded the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) Advanced Certification in Heart Failure. Achievement of this certification signifies HUP’s dedication to fostering better outcomes for patients in its heart failure program. HUP’s Advanced Certification in Heart Failure demonstrates long-term success in improving outcomes for patients diagnosed with and being treated for heart failure. HUP is the first hospital in Philadelphia to be recognized by The Joint Commission with the Advanced Certification in Heart Failure.
“HUP is committed to providing our patients the highest quality heart failure care,” said Patricia Sullivan, PhD, vice president, Quality and Patient Safety at Penn Medicine. “This certification by the Joint Commission in Advanced Heart Failure allows us the opportunity to highlight the exceptional heart failure care team we have at HUP and applaud their work in improving the lives of our cardiac patients and working towards Penn Medicine’s overall goals as we strive for excellence, innovation, and quality in all clinical areas.”
The Joint Commission’s Advanced Certification in Heart Failure Program, launched in 2011, is designed to target methods of providing safe, successful transitions of care as the patient moves from the inpatient setting to an outpatient setting. The heart failure requirements were developed in consultation with an external task force of experts and organizations with expertise in heart failure care, including representatives from the American Heart Association, Heart Failure Society of America and American Association of Heart Failure Nurses. These groups also provided feedback on how to evaluate heart failure programs that provide care in both inpatient and post-acute care settings.
In addition to the new Advanced Heart Failure designation, HUP was the first hospital in Philadelphia to receive Advanced Certification in Ventricular-Assist Devices from The Joint Commission (now joined by Penn Presbyterian Medical Center). HUP has also received the Get With The Guidelines®— Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.