nonprofit organization u.s. postage PAID 405 Hilgard Avenue Box 956923, Wilshire Center, Suite 1850 Los Angeles, CA 90095-6923 u c l a U.S.News & World Report ’s Best Hospital Survey ranks UCLA No. 5 hospital in the country and Best in the West. GOLD L E V E L ACHIEVEMENT CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT e Recy as N CW P CO TA cle Ple of MANAGED HEALTH CARE UCLA Medical Group awarded Gold Level Achievement for clinical quality by the California Department of Managed Health Care. INS 10 % UCLA Clinical Updates: The Latest Advances • UCLA’s Highly Sensitized and Blood-Group- Incompatible Kidney Transplant Program offers two evidence-based immunotherapies that work together to help highly sensitized patients undergo kidney transplants. • UCLA pelvic-floor reconstructive surgeons have developed alternative procedures to provide durable repair of pelvic-organ prolapse. This follows a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning that transvaginal placement of surgical mesh for the repair of prolapsed bladder, rectum, uterus or vaginal vault after hysterectomy may expose patients to more risk than other surgical options. Program helps physicians implement heart failure treatment guidelines Continuing work to improve outcomes Following evidence-based guidelines for treating heart- failure patients saves lives, improves patient quality of life, prevents hospitalizations and reduces medical costs. UCLA’s innovative IMPROVE-HF Performance Improvement Initiative helps doctors follow those guidelines. UCLA researchers have developed tools to help physicians implement treatment guidelines that have been shown to improve survival among heart-failure patients. The UCLA-led IMPROVE HF Performance Improvement Initiative includes clinical decision support and checklists with prompts and reminders that physicians can follow in considering treatment options, thus helping match patients with the best therapies to treat their heart failure. Heart failure affects nearly 6 million people in the United States and has a high mortality rate — about 250,000 patients die each year and nearly 1,000,000 hospitalizations annually are primarily due to heart failure. And while strict adherence to evidence-based treatment guidelines can save an estimated 68,000 lives a year, improve patient quality of life, reduce the need for hospitalization and reduce medical costs, research has shown that many patients don’t receive guideline-recommended care. The UCLA Cardiac Hospitalization Atherosclerosis Management Program (CHAMP), which was among the first performance-improvement systems to implement protective therapies for those with coronary atherosclerosis or diabetes, served as a model for the IMPROVE HF initiative. The purpose is to help physicians provide treatment that adheres to the evidence-based guidelines and improves clinical outcomes. WWW.UCLAHEALTH.ORG 1-800-UCLA-MD1 Researchers examined 167 cardiology and specialty practices across the U.S. to see how the treatment guidelines were being followed and they found gaps in how therapies were being applied. “We saw a prime opportunity for improvement,” says Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., director of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center and co-chief of the UCLA Division of Cardiology. The IMPROVE HF initiative provides support tools, including focused algorithms, pocket cards, patient education materials and transition of care tools. “We proved that using these evidence-based therapies works in the real world,” Dr. Fonarow says. “It’s a challenge to follow the heart-failure treatment guidelines. Utilizing the IMPROVE HF checklist helps ensure nothing is overlooked.” • The Revlon/UCLA Breast Center’s Multidisciplinary Program enables patients with breast cancer to consult with UCLA physicians in all relevant specialties in a single afternoon. • UCLA’s innovative IMPROVE HF Performance Improvement Initiative helps doctors follow evidence-based guidelines for treating heart- failure patients to save lives, improve patient quality of life, prevent hospitalizations and reduce medical costs. To download these and other clinical advances at UCLA Health, go to: www.uclahealth.org/clinicalupdates (1-800-825-2631) Physicians Update Winter 2013 Marketing director Pattie Cuen Manager, Marketing Communications Judi Goodfriend EDITOR David Greenwald Four Smart Ways to Make Patient Referrals Contributors NEW! e-Referral www.uclahealth.org/refer CALL 1-800-UCLA-888 (825-2888) A HIPAA-compliant, free, convenient way for community providers to communicate with and refer patients to UCLA specialists. Our physician referral nurse can answer your questions when you call this for-physicians-only line. FAX your patient referral to (310) 301-5391 e-mail access@mednet.ucla.edu We’ll call your patient the same day to coordinate a referral, and we’ll send you a follow-up letter. @ Our physician referral nurse will respond. www.uclahealth.org/MDeNews For more information about our UCLA physicians, go to: Medical editors David T. Feinberg, md, mba Patricia Kapur, md Design Donenfeld & Associates Copyright © 2013 by UCLA Health. All rights reserved. SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE PHYSICIANS UPDATE ELECTRONICALLY www.uclahealth.org/PhysicianDirectory Kimberly Enard Dan Gordon uclahealth.org/getsocial For inquiries about UCLA Physicians Update, contact UCLA Health Marketing Communications, Box 956923, Los Angeles, CA 90095-6923 www.uclahealth.org