River Terrace Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center Receives American Heart Association Certification

River Terrace Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, a skilled nursing facility with a 5-star overall rating and 5-star quality measures rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, recently achieved the Skilled Nursing Facility Heart Failure Certification offered by the American Heart Association, the world’s leading voluntary organization focused on heart and brain health.

The certification provides an evidence-based framework for evaluating skilled nursing facilities against the American Heart Association’s rigorous science-based requirements for heart failure patients, including program management, patient and caregiver education and support, care coordination, clinical management and quality improvement.

“Heart failure patients need high-quality care after leaving the hospital that follows evidence-based guidelines, giving them the best chance to improve their health,” said Samson Girmay, Administrator of River Terrace.  “The American Heart Association has armed us with innovative methods and additional tools so that we can be trailblazers and give our heart failure patients the best care.  It is an honor to have our processes and efforts recognized in this way.”

Nearly 1 in 4 heart failure patients are readmitted within 30 days of discharge and approximately half are readmitted within six months; about one-quarter of readmissions may be preventable. This certification can support facilities’ efforts to stop preventable readmissions.

To be eligible for this certification, the facility must be in the U.S. or a U.S. territory and implement a heart failure program that uses a standardized method of delivering clinical care based on current evidence-based guidelines.  Learn more about this certification and others at www.Heart.org/CertifiedCare.

River Terrace provides subacute care and rehabilitation, cardiopulmonary care and long-term care to residents across Nashoba Valley.  The 82-bed facility is a leading rehabilitation provider for hospitals in the region.  The center is supported by Marquis Health Consulting Services, a health care administrative consulting firm that brings industry-leading expertise aiming to enhance the overall experience of the residents and families of the facilities it services.