Five years after the PH Care Centers (PHCC) initiative began to help pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients find quality medical care, the Pulmonary Hypertension Association accredited its 70th PH center at the end of June.

To be accredited, PH centers must demonstrate expertise in PH and a commitment to providing expert-level care, evaluating PH patients based on published evidence-based guidelines and assembling a team of health care professionals dedicated to PH.

The concept for the PHCC program developed from discussions in 2011 between members of the Scientific Leadership Council (SLC) and PHA leadership about the need to better assess and consequently improve the quality of care and treatment for patients with PH. The accreditation process began after a pilot program for the PHCC initiative concluded in 2014.

The most recent accreditations include:

  • AdventHealth Orlando Advanced Lung Disease Program (CCC) – Orlando
    • Director: James H. Tarver, III, M.D.
    • Coordinator: Melisa Wilson, M.S.N., APRN, ACNP-BC
    • Address: 601 E. Rollins Street, Orlando, FL 32803
    • Phone: 407-303-3638
  • NYP Brooklyn Methodist Hospital PH Program (RCP) – Brooklyn
    • Director: Ruth Minkin, M.D.
    • Coordinator: Pamela Hagley, B.S.N., R.N.
    • Address: 506 Sixth Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215
    • Phone: 718-780-5835
  • Temple University Hospital – Pulmonary Hypertension, Right Heart Failure and CTEPH Program (CCC) – Philadelphia
    • Director: Paul Forfia, M.D.
    • Coordinator: Fran Rogers, M.S.N., CRNP
    • Address: 3401 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19140
    • Phone: 215-707-5740

What started as a quality improvement initiative utilizing accreditation as a tool to assess centers now includes a patient registry in which accredited programs can participate. The PHA Registry (PHAR) was piloted in the fall of 2015 and has now enrolled over 950 individuals with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension from 44 accredited clinical sites eligible for enrollment. Data acquired from the registry will be able to support analysis and improvement of diagnosis and treatment patterns for both pediatric and adult PH patients. Many clinical sites have already begun to analyze PHAR data to enhance the quality of treatment they provide and the overall quality of care in the PH community.

If you are a patient who has enrolled in the PHA patient registry and would like to see how you have impacted the PH community, visit https://phassociation.org/recent-research-and-the-pha-registry/, to view academic contributions based on PHAR data.