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Kelsey-Seybold Clinic earns national recognition for efforts aimed at managing Type 2 diabetes and CVD risk
Houston (December 10, 2020) — Kelsey-Seybold Clinic has received the American Heart Association's Target: Type 2 Diabetes℠ Gold Award for implementing quality improvement measures addressing the relationship between diabetes and cardiovascular disease in outpatient settings.
Every 80 seconds, an adult with diabetes in the United States is hospitalized for heart disease, which can lead to a heart attack. To earn the Target: Type 2 Diabetes award, organizations must commit to improving the health of their patients through high-quality care related to Type 2 diabetes and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors with the ultimate goal of reducing CVD deaths, heart attacks, and strokes in people living with Type 2 diabetes.
"Kelsey-Seybold Clinic has a long, successful history of providing specialized care for patients with Type 2 diabetes and in helping manage their cardiovascular risk factors," said Leon Jerrels, R.N., director for Quality Improvement at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic. "We are pleased to be recognized by the American Heart Association for this award because providing quality care to patients living with Type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases is something we are passionate about. The tools and resources provided help us enhance our overall diabetic care programs, through the use of benchmarking and evidenced-based clinical guidelines that have a positive impact on improving patient outcomes."
The Gold award recognizes practices that have fulfilled the participant criteria and have met the gold-level thresholds for each of two selected clinical measures related to diabetes control and CVD risk factors, hypertension, and high cholesterol.
"More than 30 million Americans live with diabetes, and cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for people living with Type 2 diabetes," said Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., F.A.H.A., volunteer expert from the AHA, chief of the UCLA Division of Cardiology, director of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center, and co-director of UCLA's Preventive Cardiology Program. "Organizations that participate in programs like this help raise awareness of the link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease and can improve the patient outcomes. We are pleased to recognize Kelsey-Seybold Clinic for their commitment to quality care."
About Kelsey-Seybold
Kelsey-Seybold has been recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as the nation’s first accredited Accountable Care Organization and a Level 3 (highest) Patient-Centered Medical Home. Kelsey-Seybold has many physicians in the Greater Houston area certified for excellence in diabetes and heart and stroke care by the NCQA. In addition to these recognitions, Kelsey-Seybold is home to a nationally accredited Breast Diagnostic Center, and Endoscopy Center.
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