MANTECA, Calif. – Doctors Hospital of Manteca announced it has received the Get With The Guidelines – Heart Failure (GWTG-HF) Initial Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The recognition signifies that Doctors Hospital of Manteca has reached an aggressive goal of treating heart failure patients with 85% compliance to core standard levels of care outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines for heart failure patients. 

    Get With The GuidelinesSM is a quality improvement initiative that provides hospital staff tools that follow proven evidence-based guidelines and procedures for heart failure patients in their care to prevent future hospitalizations. 

    Under GWTG-HF, heart failure patients are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, diuretics, and anticoagulants in the hospital. They also receive alcohol/drug use and thyroid management counseling and referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before being discharged. Doctors Hospital of Manteca has successfully implemented these quality measures for one quarter or 90-days. 

    “The full implementation of acute and secondary prevention guidelines is a critical step in saving the lives of heart failure patients,” said Gregg Fonarow, M.D., chairman of the GWTG Science Sub-Committee and director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center. “The aim of the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines program is to help hospitals like Doctors Hospital of Manteca implement appropriate evidence-based guidelines for care and protocols that will reduce the number of deaths in these patients.”

    According to the American Heart Association, about 5 million people suffer from heart failure. Statistics also show the incidence of heart failure has not declined in two decades and each year more than 52,000 people will die of heart failure. 

    “Doctors Hospital of Manteca is dedicated to making our care for heart failure patients among the best in the country, and implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines – HF program will help us accomplish this by making it easier for our professionals to improve the long-term outcome for these patients,” said Carin Sarkis, Doctors Hospital of Manteca’s spokesperson. 

    GWTG-HF helps Doctors Hospital of Manteca’s staff develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes. The program includes quality-improvement measures such as care maps, discharge protocols, standing orders and measurement tools. This quick and efficient use of guideline tools will enable Doctors Hospital of Manteca to improve the quality of care it provides heart failure patients, save lives and ultimately, reduce healthcare costs by lowering the recurrence of heart attacks. 

    The heart failure module, developed with support from an unrestricted educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline, is being implemented in hospitals around the country. For more information on Get With The Guidelines, visit americanheart.org/getwiththeguidelines. 

    Doctors Hospital of Manteca is part of Tenet California. Doctors Hospital of Manteca opened its doors in 1962 as a 28-bed, 41 employee, nine physician rural community hospital in the heart of California’s Central Valley. Over the years, the hospital expanded services to keep pace with the needs of a rapidly growing community. A multi-million dollar addition and upgrade construction project increased the hospital’s capacity to 73 beds. One of the largest businesses in the community, Doctors Hospital now has more than 375 employees and a medical staff of 160 physicians. While maintaining small-town comfort, Doctors Hospital of Manteca offers many advanced services. Private patient rooms, expanded and enhanced imaging services, emergency, pharmacy, ICU/CCU and obstetrical services are designed for the care and comfort of our patients. 

    Doctors Hospital of Manteca is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the nation’s oldest and largest hospital accreditation agency. To learn more about Doctors Hospital of Manteca, visit our website, www.doctorsmanteca.com.

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Certain statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements. They are based on management’s current expectations and could be affected by numerous factors and are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Certain of those risks and uncertainties are discussed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company’s transition report on Form 10-K for the 7-month period ended Dec. 31, 2002 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Do not rely on any forward-looking statement, as we cannot predict or control many of the factors that ultimately may affect our ability to achieve the results estimated. We make no promise to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of changes in underlying factors, new information, future events or otherwise.