Get With The Guidelines - Heart Failure Recognition Program

Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure (GWTG-HF) offers four levels of hospital recognition:

Participating GWTG-HF Hospital
Bronze Achievement Award
Silver Achievement Award
Gold Achievement Award
Silver Plus Quality Award
Gold Plus Quality Award

Participating GWTG-HF Hospital
The first level of recognition designates awardees as an official Participating GWTG-HF Hospital. This level encourages program participation and entry of baseline data into the Patient Management Tool^TM*. View award release and permission form.

Achievement Awards
These awards recognize hospitals that demonstrate at least 85 percent compliance in each of the five GWTG-HF Achievement Measures. The different levels reflect the amount of time for which the hospital demonstrates performance.

Bronze recognizes performance of 90 consecutive days.
Silver recognizes performance of 12 consecutive months.
Gold recognizes performance of 24 consecutive months or more.

The Achievement Measures for GWTG-HF are embedded in the Patient Management Tool. They are:

HF discharge instructions provided for all eligible patients
Measurement of LV function in all eligible patients
ACE inhibitor and/or ARB at discharge provided to eligible patients with LVEF < or = 0.40, in absence of documented contraindications or intolerance
Beta blocker at discharge provided to eligible patients with LVEF < or = 0.40, in absence of documented contraindications or intolerance
Smoking cessation counseling provided to all eligible patients (current or recent smokers)

To obtain an Achievement Award, a hospital must:

Achieve Participating GWTG-HF Hospital status.
Demonstrate compliance in the five GWTG-HF Achievement Measures in at least 85 percent of all eligible patients. This must be documented in a written application, signed by a hospital representative and include the names of the hospital staff who collected the data.
Application templates are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, Silver Plus, and Gold Plus Achievement Awards.
Submit the application to the vice president or senior director of Quality Improvement Initiatives.
Submit a signed application form indicating that all criteria have been met.

Please note:

Baseline data is not to be included in the demonstrated period of adherence.
Once a hospital has been recognized with a GWTG-HF Silver Achievement Award, it is no longer eligible for the GWTG-HF Bronze Performance Award.
Recognition criteria is subject to change based on program enhancements.

These applications will likely be the basis for poster or oral best practice presentations at local, regional or national Get With The Guidelines events, including CME/CE/CPHQ activities, celebrations and other appropriate meetings.

Five Achievement Measures are used to evaluate and recognize success. These measures are consistent with those measures used by several organizations. However, all of the measures in GWTG are important in the care of patients.

Criteria and FAQs for the Silver Plus and Gold Plus Quality Awards

* The Patient Management Tool^TM system provided by Outcome, Cambridge, Mass.