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Cardiology

Self-Monitoring Blood Pressure Programs Improve Health

BY TIFFANI HELBERG Association. He discussed the significant
progress that CHI and its sister health
Beny Richter cares for her 92 year-old centers have made using pilot programs
mother, Ivone Richter. She became like this.
increasingly worried when her mother’s The American Heart Association pro-
blood pressure readings were high at two gram looks closely at the patient’s per-
doctor visits at Community Health of ception of the tools including: the
South Florida, Inc. The care team gave machines, logs and even the website.
Richter a self-monitoring blood pressure The Health Foundation of South Florida
machine and asked her to take her mom’s program is even broader with technology
pressure at home several times a day. that lets patients download software into
“The nurse told me to how to do it and their phone and links the blood pressure
she gave me the tools, pictures and writ- machine to the cell. That allows doctors
ten instructions,” explained Beny to remotely access patients’ home blood
Richter. “So, I followed the instructions. pressure readings via the internet.
It was very, very easy.” “This will enable us to respond more
Richter is one of more than 160 quickly to abnormal blood pressure,”
patients enrolled in two new CHI pro- said Dr. Amofah.
grams that teach patients with high The program provides quality, validat-
blood pressure to monitor their own ed blood pressure machines to patients
blood pressure at home. Ivone Richter uses a self-monitoring Dr. Amofah getting ready to speak who are unable to get one. Some insur-
“That’s good for the families to do it at blood pressure machine as part at the American Heart Association ance plans will cover this and it could
home so you can do it when she’s of a new CHI program. Convention in California help CHI meet its goals for improving
relaxed,” said Beny Richter. “It’s much blood pressure in its patient population.
better.” The programs, sponsored by the world,” said Dr. St. Anthony Amofah, Currently 65% of CHI’s hypertensive
Turns out for her mother, monitoring American Heart Association and the Chief Medical Officer at CHI. “Giving patients have controlled blood pressure.
at home was a big help. Health Foundation of South Florida them a good machine and training them The goal is to increase that number to
“I do appreciate that you have given could go a long way in teaching patients to check the blood pressure accurately 80% by the end of 2018.
me the opportunity to measure because and medical teams about new ways to could really make a difference.”
now we are sure that she has low pres- approach hypertension. Dr. Amofah recently returned from For more information about CHI,
sure and not high pressure. So it’s good “We don’t often know what a patient’s presenting to cardiologists at the nation- visit www.chisouthfl.org.
for me to know that she’s fine.” blood pressure looks like in the real al conference for the American Heart

Mount Sinai Health System
Cleveland Clinic, America’s
Expands Innovative Care in Florida
No. 1 Heart Hospital, Partners
Mount Sinai Health System in New York announces the opening of a new
with Martin Health System state-of-the-art medical practice in Palm Beach bringing world-class, innovative
care to patients and businesses in the region. Mount Sinai Doctors Palm Beach,
for First Cardiovascular centrally located on North Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach, will offer primary
care, cardiology, gastroenterology, and ophthalmology services.
Mount Sinai Doctors Palm Beach represents Mount Sinai’s longtime commit-
Affiliation in Florida ment to the region and its residents, and is the newest addition to a growing
network outside New York State, which also includes Mount Sinai Heart New
Cleveland Clinic and Martin Health System announced an affiliation York Palm Beach. A dynamic partnership with Jupiter Medical Center, launched
agreement to share best practices in cardiology and heart surgery, opti- in 2015, has resulted in greater access to high-quality care for patients, includ-
mize superior patient-centered care, and develop programs to improve ing research and education initiatives in cardiology, oncology, and digestive
quality, safety and outcomes. health, and access to groundbreaking research and protocols developed by the
The cardiac programs at Cleveland Clinic's Sydell and Arnold Miller faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Family Heart & Vascular Institute and the Frances Langford Heart The compassionate and highly trained physician staff will be led by promi-
Center at Martin Health will form this affiliation. Through these relation- nent cardiovascular specialist Gonzalo Loveday, MD, FACC, who will be the
ships, Cleveland Clinic provides management services, including clinical practice’s medical director. The practice will also include primary care provided
direction, quality assurance, and access to the latest in cutting-edge tech- by Ruben Reider, MD, and Yael Vidal, MD; highly specialized cardiovascular
nologies and techniques. care provided by Gabriel Breuer, MD, FACC, Chauncey W. Crandall IV, MD,
For more than a decade, the Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute FACC, Steven A. Malosky, MD, Utpal N. Sagar, MD, FACC, and Dr. Loveday;
has formed affiliations with cardiothoracic surgery and cardiovascular nationally recognized gastroenterology care by Chester Maxson, MD, FACG,
medicine programs in Ohio and across the country, providing access to Louis Rosainz, MD, FACG, and Bernard Stein, MD, FACG; and innovative oph-
world-class care and the unparalleled expertise of Cleveland Clinic’s thalmology care by David A. Goldman, MD.
heart program. The affiliate network now extends to more than 20 hos- Mount Sinai Doctors Palm Beach will provide seamless coordination of care,
pitals and health systems across the U.S. including same-day and next-day appointments, as well as 24-hour on-call
access to specialists. The practice prides itself on individualized patient care.

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18 February 2018 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News