How we know if we're succeeding

Measuring ourselves: congestive heart failure

The basic facts

• In congestive heart failure (CHF) the heart muscle is weakened and cannot pump blood as well as it should; CHF can range from mild to severe
• Millions of Americans are living with congestive heart failure
• CHF is one of the most common reasons why people are admitted to the hospital; with proper management of CHF, more than one third of these admissions to the hospital could be prevented
• National guidelines strongly recommend the use of certain medications to improve heart function in the treatment of CHF

Our mission is to deliver high quality health care to our patients with congestive heart failure, including appropriate medication therapy, and help them learn and maintain self-management skills.

We measure the percent of patients who are taking at least one of the medications recommended to improve heart function in people with congestive heart failure.

In 2006, 92% of our patients with CHF were taking at least one of the recommended medications, surpassing our goal of 90%.

n = number of patients in sample measured