Alexian Brothers completes benchmark program

ELK GROVE VILLAGE - AMITA Health Alexian Brothers Medical Center Elk Grove Village is the first hospital in the country to be recognized by Edwards Lifesciences for completing its Edwards Benchmark program for the treatment of aortic stenosis patients undergoing TAVR heart valve replacement.

The Edwards Benchmark program, jointly developed by Edwards Lifesciences and the Centre for Heart Valve Innovation at the University of British Columbia, is "designed to align the multidisciplinary heart team on the minimalist TAVR approach and improve the patient clinical pathway." Additional program goals include improved safety outcomes, such as 30-day mortality/stroke of less than one percent, permanent pacemaker implants of less than six percent and more than 80 percent of discharges within one day to home.

The medical center's Structural Heart Program completed the Edwards Benchmark program action plan, identifying specific best practices to implement in early March, just as the COVID-19 outbreak was breaking in the U.S. As the pandemic caused nonurgent and nonemergent hospital procedures and surgeries to pause, the team used the time to implement a number of best practices allowing for the completion of the Edwards Benchmark program, including the opening of a dedicated Cardiovascular Stepdown Unit (CVSDU) that allows the vast majority of TAVR patients to bypass the ICU. The nurses caring for the patients on this step-down unit are specially trained in the care of post-TAVR patients.