UPMC Western Maryland has received the American College of Cardiology’s NCDR Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Silver Performance Achievement Award for 2019. UPMC Western Maryland is one of only 86 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor.

The award recognizes UPMC Western Maryland’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that UPMC Western Maryland 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, UPMC Western Maryland has demonstrated sustained achievement in the Chest Pain ̶   MI Registry for four consecutive quarters and has performed at the top level of standards 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.

“As a Silver Performance Award recipient, [UPMC Western Maryland] has established itself as a leader in setting the national standard for improving quality of care in patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI),” said Michael C. Kontos, MD, FACC, chair of the NCDR Chest Pain – MI Registry Steering Subcommittee, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. “By meeting the award requirements set forth in the registry, WMHS 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 over 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 excellence of our Cardiac program here at [UPMC Western Maryland] is reflected by the awards we have received from the National Societies of Cardiology, including the American Heart Association earlier this year, and this prestigious award from the American College of Cardiology,” said Christopher Haas, D.O., Chairman of Internal Medicine and Medical Director of Cardiology at UPMC Western Maryland. “We are proud that the care our community receives at [UPMC Western Maryland] is consistently at or above the national standards, and the people of our area can rest assured that their cardiac team works day and night to ensure they receive only top-notch care. The awards certainly are nice, but our reward comes from seeing heart attack patients leave the hospital going back to their families and back to their lives.”

Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry empowers healthcare 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.