UP Health System – Marquette Among Nation’s Top Performing Hospitals for Treatment of Heart Attack Patients
October 21, 2021
UP Health System – Marquette, a Duke LifePoint hospital, has received the American College of Cardiology’s NCDR Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Silver Performance Achievement Award for 2021. UP Health System – Marquette is one of only 132 hospitals nationwide to receive this honor.
The award recognizes UP Health System – Marquette’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that UP Health System – Marquette has reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients to standard levels of care as outlined by the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.
To receive the Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Silver Performance Achievement Award, UP Health System – Marquette 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, UP Health System – Marquette 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 outlined in the registry, UP Health System – Marquette has demonstrated a commitment to providing reliable, comprehensive treatment for heart attack patients based on current clinical guideline recommendations.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 805,000 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.
“I’m incredibly proud of our organization’s commitment to providing evidence-based world-class heart and vascular services right here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,” said Joseph Ackerman, STEMI/Chest Pain Coordinator at UP Health System – Marquette. “This achievement speaks to the quality of not only the Chest Pain Center but the Heart & Vascular Service line as a whole. Our communities have been and will continue to benefit from this effort.”
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.
The American College of Cardiology bestows credentials upon cardiovascular professionals who meet stringent qualifications and leads in the formation of health policy, standards, and guidelines. The College also provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research through its world-renowned JACC Journals, operates national registries to measure and improve care, and offers cardiovascular accreditation to hospitals and institutions.
UP Health System – Marquette provides cardiovascular services including general cardiology, diagnostic testing, diagnostic and interventional cardiology, clinical research, electrophysiology, rehabilitation, vascular care, structural heart procedures, and open-heart surgery. As a Duke Health Affiliate for Heart & Vascular care, UP Health System – Marquette collaborates with the Duke Heart Network to optimize patient outcomes, promote evidence-based medicine, improve community health, and facilitate access to clinical research.
For more information about heart and vascular services at UP Health System – Marquette or to take our free heart health assessment, visit UPHealthSystem.com/Heart.