Serious as a Heart Attack When it Comes to Excellence in Cardiac Care
University Hospital is one of 164 hospitals to earn Platinum Award for heart attack care.
University Health is one of just 164 hospitals nationwide to earn the Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2012 from the American College of Cardiology Foundation’s NCDR ACTION Registry. The award recognizes University Hospital’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients, and in reaching an aggressive goal of treating patients with the standardized levels of care as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) clinical guidelines and recommendations.
To earn this achievement, University Health consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the ACTION Registry–GWTG (Get with the Guidelines) Premier for 8 consecutive quarters and met a performance standard of 90% for specific performance measures. Following these treatment guidelines improves the overall quality of care provided to ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non- ST- elevation myocardial infarction patients (NSTEMI).
“The American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association commend University Health for its success in implementing standards of care and protocols. The full implementation of acute and secondary prevention guideline-recommended therapy is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of heart attack patients,” Gregg C. Fonarow, MD, FACC, FAHA, ACTION Registry-GWTG Steering Committee Chair and Director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center and James Jollis, MD, FACC, ACTION Registry-GWTG Co-Chair and Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Duke University Hospital.
“The time is right for University Health to be focused on improving the quality of cardiovascular care by implementing ACTION Registry–GWTG. The number of acute myocardial infarction patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing incidence of heart disease and a large aging population,” said George B. Hernández, Jr., president/CEO, University Health.
ACTION Registry–GWTG is a partnership between the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association with partnering support from the American College of Emergency Physicians, Society of Chest Pain Centers and the Society of Hospital Medicine. ACTION Registry-GWTG empowers health care provider teams to consistently treat heart attack patients according to the most current, science-based guidelines and establishes a national standard for understanding and improving the quality, safety and outcomes of care provided for patients with coronary artery disease, specifically high-risk STEMI and NSTEMI patients.
