Hillcrest Hospital Receives Award for Heart Attack Care

was recognized for providing a high standard of care for heart attack patients by receiving the American College of Cardiology Foundation's NCDR ACTION Registry-GWTG Silver Performance Achievement Award for 2011.

The ACTION Registry was created by the merger of the National Cardiovascular Data Registry with the Get With the Guidelines program from the American Heart Association and establishes a national standard for understanding and improving the quality, safety and outcomes for patients with coronary artery disease.

"We are honored to receive this award validating our strong commitment to evidence-based, quality-driven cardiovascular care," said Dr. Jonathan Scharfstein, Hillcrest Hospital chief of cardiology. "This award is a tribute to all the health care providers at Hillcrest Hospital who deliver outstanding care to our cardiac patients on a daily basis. These include not only our first-rate cardiologists, but also our emergency room staff, nurses and nurse practitioners, pharmacists and the many other caregivers who participate in caring for our patients with heart disease."

To qualify for the award, the hospital consistently followed treatment guidelines for four consecutive quarters and met a performance standard of 85 percent for specific performance measures.