Evaluation of left ventricular systolic function for heart failure

Left ventricular systolic (LVS) function is a measure of how well the lower left pumping chamber of the heart contracts (i.e., squeezes) to send blood to the rest of the body. Low LVS function is a sign of heart failure, and it should be evaluated in patients with suspected heart failure.

Early diagnosis and treatment of heart failure can help patients live longer, healthier lives, so performing appropriate diagnostic tests is important. A higher percent of testing LVS function in patients with suspected heart failure may indicate that a hospital provides a higher level of patient care.

About this measure

The first graph below shows the percent of patients who received appropriate diagnostic testing for heart failure.  The second graph shows a trend over time for this measure.

Northwestern Memorial Hospital wants to provide the most up to date data. For this measure, our data is from a more recent time period than the benchmark time period.

Note: In this case, a higher number is better.