Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, became the 100th PHA-accredited Pulmonary Hypertension Care Center in April.
“We trust accreditation will give patients and families confidence in the care we provide,” said Kate Carp, PH clinical nurse coordinator at Children’s Mercy. “We are a program on the forefront of developments in the pediatric PH world.”
Pulmonary Hypertension Association accreditation is based on demonstrated commitment to PH patients, breadth of health care professionals involved, adherence to care guidelines and scope of services provided.
Children’s Mercy is one of three pediatric Regional Clinical Programs in PHA’s care center network. There are 23 adult Regional Clinical Programs. Of the 74 Centers of Comprehensive Care, 63 specialize in adult PH care and 11 in pediatric PH care. While comprehensive care centers and regional programs both provide quality specialized PH care, there are slight differences between the two designations.
Comprehensive care centers differ from regional programs because comprehensive care centers provide all Food and Drug Administration-approved PH therapies and typically have higher patient volumes. They also contribute significantly to PH research and education.
“We were very excited to have the opportunity to seek out RCP accreditation,” Carp said. “Our program has provided excellent PH care over the last decade and achieving accreditation helps exemplify that.”
PHA’s accreditation program benefits clinicians and patients. Both look to accredited care centers for a level of trust in the care provided.
“Accreditation demonstrates to our patients and families that we are committed to a high standard of care informed by the latest developments in understanding and treating pediatric PH,” Carp said. “On a practical level, it has motivated us to improve PH-related education for staff in our institution and establish written guidelines and protocols that reflect the specialized care we provide.”
Patients and caregivers: Find a PHA-accredited PH Care Center.
PH professionals: Learn more about accreditation. Questions? Email us.
