News & Events - hbCOR

On April 5^th, the ACC-NCDR released the following statement:

“Effective April 1, 2017, the NCDR’s ACTION Registry®-GWTG™ will transition to a new operating model to allow for greater data security, collaboration and flexibility around quality improvement efforts – efforts that are increasingly more important in today’s outcomes-focused health care environment.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) actively worked with the American Heart Association (AHA) to ensure the transition to this new model is as seamless as possible. Both the Registry and affiliated programs like Mission: Lifeline will continue to operate as usual. Hospitals currently participating in the Registry will not need to do anything differently and will receive an email notice that Program Requirements have been updated. Hospitals will notice changes to the name and branding that reference ACTION Registry® instead of ACTION Registry®-GWTG™.

If your hospital wishes to cancel participation in this Registry for 2017 due to the change described above, or if you have additional questions regarding this change, please contact NCDR@acc.org. Mission: Lifeline participants should contact AHA for additional program details regarding Mission: Lifeline.”

As of April 1^st, 2017 the ACC-NCDR is ending its longstanding partnership with the AHA for the ACTION Registry-GWTG (ARG). In order to continue to provide Mission: Lifeline reporting, the AHA has relaunched the GWTG-CAD tool, which will replace ARG moving forward. We at heartbase are acutely aware of these developments, and are currently in discussions with the Mission: Lifeline staff for clarification; as soon as we hear anything back, we will relay the information to you.

Additionally, Quintiles and AHA are developing a hospital upload tool to provide a similar submission process to that of the NCDR, which will allow third-party vendors such as heartbase to perform submissions.  Once we receive a current data dictionary and data uploader specification, heartbase can begin to develop the GWTG-CAD data collection forms. We are anticipating a release of the heartbase tool by the end of June 2017.

What we know, and how it may affect you (UPDATED 4/28): 

• According to Art Miller, Director of Mission: Lifeline, participation in GWTG-CAD in 2017 will be free. Cost information for 2018 will be announced in June 2017.
• A crosswalk and CSV Upload Tool will be available to GWTG-CAD participants in June 2017.
• AHA-GWTG and ACC-NCDR are partners in Cardiac Accreditation, but will continue to operate separately.  However, relevant clinical registry programs of both groups will support the data requirements for hospitals participating in any ACC/AHA Accreditation offerings.
• According to a press release from Mission: Lifeline: “GWTG-CAD currently captures many data elements and some measures required for Chest Pain Accreditation and intends to fully support the 23 required measures by Winter 2017.”
• Click here to read the release from the AHA
• Click here to review the CAD data collection tool

Rest assured, heartbase is prepared to address these changes.  We will provide you with any new information as it comes to us.

NCDR.17 was the largest conference in the history of the NCDR, and it was a tremendous success. A lot of information was packed into the three day event, and we are excited to get to work addressing the upcoming registry changes.

We were especially happy to see so many heartbase users! Special thanks to all of you who took the time to stop by our booth and say hello, and to everyone who attended our Monday night cocktail party. We had a great time spending time with you in our nation’s capital!

March 13-15, heartbase will head to Washington DC for the annual NCDR Conference. We are excited to attend the general sessions and workshops, and stay informed of new registry changes and advances in data analytics. We can’t wait to see our customers there!

We also look forward to presenting our innovative, constantly-evolving hbCOR platform to prospective customers. If you are attending NCDR.17 and would like to schedule a 5-minute demo with heartbase, we will give you a $5 Starbucks gift card!

                                                                 To schedule a demo, contact Alex Potanos.

heartbase is committed to providing our customers with ongoing training and education. In that spirit, we are pleased to announce that our online support center, the hb Knowledgebase, is now available on our website. The hb Knowledgebase will allow you to register for our monthly training classes and access our library of heartbase manuals and reference materials. The hb Knoweldgebase will also allow you to submit and check the status of support requests, as well as view the history of completed requests. In the coming months, we will add exciting, user-friendly features aimed to further inform our customers about the registry changes, changes in industry standards, and advances in the hbCOR platform in general.

Furthermore, we are now offering each heartbase facility one complimentary seat to each of the monthly training classes conducted by our clinical trainer, Carmen Ernst. Registration is required for each class, and seats are limited and allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis. If classes are not filled the day before they are scheduled, we may even be able to accommodate additional members of your facility.

Click here to visit the hb Knowledgebase, and contact Alex Potanos at apotanos@heartbase.net with any questions about activating your personal user account. We always welcome feedback and suggestions for new classes, training sessions or tutorials. Let us know what you’d like to learn and we’ll be happy to create the training that best meets your needs!

Tomorrow, most of us will be at home with our families, piling onto our plates mounds of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and inordinate amounts gravy. But hospitals never close; no matter what time or day, someone is always there to help care for our sick and unfortunate.

In this time of thanksgiving, we at heartbase want to express our profound gratitude to our amazing customers and all of the great work you do. You have all, in some capacity, chosen to serve in the profession of healing, and your commitment to providing superlative patient care is truly inspiring.

As a company that prides itself on providing our customers with unparalleled support, we are truly grateful for the support that you have given us. Thank you for all that you do, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving “harvest!”

Happy Thanksgiving,

The heartbase Family

We are pleased to announce that we now support the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) Registry. PHC4 is an independent state agency that addresses the problem of escalating health costs, ensures the quality of health care, and increases access to high quality, affordable care for all citizens. Established in 1986, PHC4 has become an industry leader in cardiac research and treatment.

According to PHC4 Executive Director Joe Martin, “PHC4 is frequently referred to as one of the best of its kind…the agency and its supporters have played a crucial role in promoting health care transparency over the past 30 years.”

Heartbase’s support of PHC4 Cardiac Surgery will eliminate redundant collection of data with the STS Adult Cardiac registry, allowing a streamlined submission to both registry bodies.

To view the entire press release, please click here.

On August 10th, heartbase president Nick Gawrit presented at the annual IHE Cardiology Update webinar. Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) was created by healthcare industry professionals to improve the methods by which computer systems in healthcare share clinical data.  Gawrit, who currently serves as co-chair of IHE’s Technical Committee, discussed advances in the EPRC-IE (Electrophysiology Report Content – Implant/Explant) Profile, which he co-authored.

In case you missed it, here is a recording of the entire webinar.

Heartbase is pleased to announce that we have received certification for AFib Ablation Registry™ by the American College of Cardiology Foundation.  Effective immediately, heartbase will be able to provide health care institutions with an efficient means of collecting and reporting AFib ablation-related data.  This data will allow clinicians to track and evaluate the outcomes for treatment and potential stroke prevention of patients with atrial fibrillation.

Click here to read the full press release.