Newswise — UNC Medical Center has received the American College of Cardiology’s NCDR “Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award” for 2021, one of only 212 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor.
The award recognizes UNC’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients, and signifies that cardiology providers have reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients to standard levels of care as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.
“UNC Medical Center has established itself as a leader in setting the national standard for improving quality of care in patients with acute myocardial infarction,” said Michael C. Kontos, MD, FACC, chair of the NCDR Chest Pain-MI Registry Steering Subcommittee, and cardiologist at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. “By meeting award requirements set forth in the registry, UNC has demonstrated a commitment to providing reliable, comprehensive treatment for heart attack patients based on current clinical guideline recommendations.”
To receive the award, UNC Medical Center has demonstrated sustained achievement for two consecutive years (2019 and 2020), and performed at the highest level for specific performance measures. Full participation in the registry engages hospitals in a robust quality improvement process using data to drive improvements in adherence to guideline recommendations and overall quality of care provided to heart attack patients.
Joseph Rossi, MD, associate professor of medicine in cardiology and director of the UNC Cardiac Catheterization Lab says the award reflects the success of the entire UNC Health system.
“STEMI care truly requires not only dedicated physicians and staff at our hospital, but coordination among EMS services, the Emergency Room, Carolina Air Care and our local referring hospitals,” said Rossi, who serves as chair of the STEMI committee. “We are lucky to have a great team at UNC dedicated to heart attack care.”
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that almost 700,000 Americans suffer a heart attack each year. A heart attack occurs when a blood clot in a coronary artery partially or completely blocks blood flow to the heart muscle. Treatment guidelines include administering aspirin upon arrival and discharge, timely restoration of blood flow to the blocked artery, smoking cessation counseling and cardiac rehabilitation, among others.
The Chest Pain-MI Registry 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 heart attack patients.
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