This designation strengthens our ability to care for patients with complex hypertension and connects us to a national network of leading centers.
Charles W. Hopley, MD, MPH, FASNDartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics (Clinics) have been recognized as Comprehensive Hypertension Centers by the American Heart Association (AHA). This certification is for programs that demonstrate commitment to following proven, research-based treatment guidelines to care for people with complex or difficult-to-treat hypertension, or high blood pressure. DHMC and Clinics are the first to receive this level of certification in northern New England.
Certified Comprehensive Hypertension Centers are recognized as leaders in providing the most up-to-date, effective treatment strategies based on current evidence-based research in hypertension. Certified programs are primarily devoted to patients with hypertension and related disorders, are recognized as referral and treatment resources for resistant and secondary hypertension, and have facilities and personnel capable of assessing and evaluating complicated hypertension problems. To gain certification, programs undergo rigorous review by the AHA quality improvement specialists, who evaluate policies, procedures, and operations to ensure appropriate diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment protocols are in place for patients with hypertension.
“We’ve been working toward this distinction for several years,” said Charles W. Hopley, MD, MPH, FASN, medical director of DHMC’s Advanced Hypertension Clinic. “It was born from a shared vision between the hypertension/nephrology section, general internal medicine and the Heart and Vascular Center. This designation strengthens our ability to care for patients with complex hypertension and connects us to a national network of leading centers. It opens the door to shared protocols, data collaboration, and research that can directly benefit the population we serve.”
For more information on the American Heart Association certification programs, visit heart.org/certification.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 57 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital and multiple locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory and specialty services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.