Palomar UC San Diego Health Escondido has received the American College of Cardiology’s NCDR Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2021. The medical center is one of only 212 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor.
The award recognizes Palomar UC San Diego Health’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that Palomar UC San Diego Health Escondido 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.
“When you’re experiencing a heart attack, you need to get expert medical treatment right away,” said Palomar UC San Diego Health Chief Medical Officer Omar Khawaja, MD. “It should be comforting for North County residents to know Palomar UC San Diego Health provides the highest level of life-saving care within minutes of their home.”
To receive the Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award, Palomar UC San Diego Health Escondido has demonstrated sustained achievement in the Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry for two consecutive years (2019 and 2020), and performed at the highest level 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 Platinum Performance Award recipient, Palomar UC San Diego Health 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.
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.