Overlake Arrhythmia Center First on West Coast to Receive National Accreditation

Bellevue, Wash. – The Bob and Patty Edwards Arrhythmia Center at Overlake Medical Center is the first on the West Coast and only the ninth in the nation to receive national recognition of atrial fibrillation—“AFib”—accreditation by the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care (SCPC), an Institute of the American College of Cardiology that accredits hospitals that have achieved best-in-class standards of care related to the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

SCPC-accredited hospitals have a 25 percent lower average length of stay and a 20-50 percent decrease in readmissions. Overlake’s proactive decision to become SCPC accredited benefits everyone, from medical center personnel to patients and their families, by reducing medical costs, improving patient outcomes and increasing patient volumes.

“Our team of doctors and administrators has worked hard to reach this level of quality because we know the end result is that our patients will get the absolute best care here over anywhere in the western US,” said Overlake cardiologist Dr. Derek Rodrigues. “The SCPC accreditation affirms that commitment.”

Cardiac arrhythmia occurs when the heart beats too slowly, too fast or is irregular in any way. Atrial fibrillation, the most common type of arrhythmia, is a condition that increases the risk of stroke, blood clots, heart failure and other complications. The death rate from AFib has been rising for more than two decades, with more than 750,000 hospitalizations occurring each year. According to the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, an estimated 5 million people in the United States have the condition, and by 2030 more than 12 million people will require treatment.

The intensive accreditation process involved rigorous evaluation of processes and instituting system-wide protocols of cardiac care, assessing performance gaps, targeting areas for improvement, analyzing patient feedback, developing patient education tools, and having the site reviewed before being eligible for accreditation. The process brings together diverse medical specialties such as EMS, emergency medicine, cardiology, doctors and nurses, quality improvement professionals, and even lawyers and architects.