Mission's Heart Center earns national award for cardiac care

Mission Heart continues to receive national recognition for the outstanding cardiac care provided by its physicians and caregivers.

Mission Heart has earned the American College of Cardiology’s NCDR ACTION Registry–GWTG Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2015. Mission Hospital is among just 319 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor.

The award recognizes Mission Heart’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that Mission Heart has achieved or surpassed rigorous standards for treating these patients to standard levels of care as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.

To receive the ACTION Registry–GWTG Platinum Performance Achievement Award, Mission Heart consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the ACTION Registry–GWTG Premier for eight consecutive quarters and met a performance standard of 90 percent 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.

“The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association commend Mission Hospital 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,” said James Jollis, MD, FACC, ACTION Registry–GWTG chair and professor of medicine and radiology at Duke University Hospital.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 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.

“This award further validates our steadfast commitment to provide the highest possible quality of care to patients in western North Carolina,” said Jill Hoggard Green, PhD, RN, COO of Mission Health and President of Mission Hospital and Mission Medical Associates. “This national recognition reflects the dedication and skill of our cardiologists and expert caregivers who care for some of our most critically ill patients and their families. The implementation of these guidelines requires successful coordination of the Mission Heart team and emergency personnel and is a crucial step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of heart attack patients in our community.”

Mission Heart was also recently named one of the nation’s Top 50 Cardiovascular Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics, a leading authority on clinical quality. Mission Heart is the only hospital in the Carolinas to receive this recognition.  This marks the ninth time Mission has been named a Top 50 Cardiovascular Hospital by Truven Health Analytics.