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LUMBERTON — UNC Health Southeastern has received the American College of Cardiology’s NCDR Chest Pain – MI Registry Silver Performance Achievement Award for 2021. The medical center is one of only 132 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor.
The award recognizes UNC Health Southeastern’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that the medical center has 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.
To receive the Chest Pain – MI Registry Silver Performance Achievement Award, UNC Health Southeastern has demonstrated sustained achievement in the Chest Pain – MI Registry for four consecutive quarters during 2020 and performed with distinction in 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.
“As a Silver Performance Award recipient, UNC Health Southeastern 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 the award requirements set forth in the registry, UNC Health Southeastern has demonstrated a commitment to providing reliable, comprehensive treatment for heart attack patients based on current clinical guideline recommendations.”
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.
“This award validates the efforts of so many healthcare professionals throughout our organization who continue to implement processes and procedures to improve the care we provide for our heart patients,” said Lori Dove, UNC Health Southeastern Vice President and Interim Chief Operating Officer, whose responsibility areas include cardiology services. “We are always thrilled when these efforts are validated by such outstanding entities as the American College of Cardiology.”
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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