On Monday, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology updated the clinical performance and quality measures for the treatment of adults with atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. Previous quality recommendations were released in 2008 and were later accompanied by implementation notes in 2011.
"Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in the United States," said Paul A. Heidenreich, MD, professor at Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine and chair of the writing committee that developed the new recommendations. "This condition impacts between 2.7 million and 6.1 million American adults, and this number is expected to double by 2050. Updating the measure set was a priority for the ACC and AHA."
The new update increases the scope of the recommendations beyond the outpatient setting to include the inpatient setting as well. Healthcare domains newly addressed in the update include patient safety, effective clinical care, communication and coordination of care.
"The writing committee believes that implementation of this clinical performance and quality measure set by providers, physician practices, and hospital systems will help to enhance the quality of care provided to patients with atrial fibrillation in both the inpatient and outpatient settings, and thereby improve their quality of life," said Dr. Heidenreich.
The new measures can be found in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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