National Jewish Health and Saint Joseph Hospital Awarded Pulmonary Hypertension Comprehensive Care Center Accreditation

National Jewish Health, the nation’s leading respiratory hospital, and its clinical partner Saint Joseph Hospital, Denver’s largest private teaching hospital and a part of the SCL Health system, have been named an accredited Center of Comprehensive Care by the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA).

“This is years in the making and a true testament to the teamwork at National Jewish Health and Saint Joseph Hospital,” said Marjorie Patricia George, MD, Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program at National Jewish Health and Saint Joseph Hospital. “It’s an honor to be named a PHA-accredited comprehensive care center in Colorado.”

To be designated as a Comprehensive Care Center (CCC), an organization must demonstrate that it is a highly organized, full-time pulmonary hypertension center that proficiently evaluates PH patients based on evidence-based guidelines and also provides expert treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) with all of the FDA-approved therapies. CCCs also make important contributions to PH research and education.

National Jewish Health opened its outpatient pulmonary hypertension clinic in 2012. When the hospital formed its clinical partnership with Saint Joseph Hospital in 2014, the two organizations began building the comprehensive, coordinated program that is now receiving this prestigious accreditation.

“Pulmonary hypertension patients are very complex, and it’s important to have a program that can help them manage their disease from both an outpatient perspective and during hospital stays,” explained Dr. George. “From day one, there has been a commitment from both National Jewish Health and Saint Joseph Hospital to have the best pulmonary hypertension program in the region. Receiving this accreditation from the Pulmonary Hypertension Association is important to not only our goal, but also our patients’ well-being.”