About five million people in the United States have heart failure and it contributes to or causes about 300,000 deaths each year. Approximately 550,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Unlike a heart attack, which is a defined event at a specific time that calls for immediate intervention, heart failure is a chronic condition due to damage to the heart that has accumulated over time.

HHC hospitals follow best practices to treat heart failure and prevent future occurrences in our patients. As data reported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the New York State Department of Health reflects, many of HHC's hospitals have achieved outstanding performance ratings in this category of care.

Also presented here is the 30-day mortality rate of our patients who have been admitted to one of our hospitals with heart failure. Thirty-day mortality is used because this is the time period when deaths are most likely to be related to the care patients received in the hospital. This data includes deaths within 30 days of an admission to the hospital with heart failure, whether the death occurred in the hospital or after the patient went home, and without regard to the actual cause of the death.

• Treatment and Prevention
• Mortality