| BMC Recognized 10 Years Running for Coronary Care |
| August 10, 2011 For Immediate Release Berkshire Medical Center Receives American College of Cardiology Foundation’s NCDR® ACTION Registry®–GWTGTM Gold Performance Achievement Award: One of Only 167 Hospitals Nationwide to Receive Honor PITTSFIELD, MA – Berkshire Medical Center has received the American College of Cardiology Foundation’s NCDR ACTION Registry–GWTG (Get With The Guidelines) Gold Performance Achievement Award for 2011, one of only 167 hospitals nationwide to be so honored. The award recognizes BMC’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients, and signifies that BMC 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. The ACTION Registry-GWTG is the successor to the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines Coronary Artery Disease program, in which BMC was recognized with Gold honors for nine consecutive years. The ACTION Registry-GWTG honor now marks ten straight years of recognition for BMC in the care of cardiac patients. To receive the ACTION Registry–GWTG Gold Performance Achievement Award, BMC consistently followed the treatment guidelines in ACTION Registry–GWTG for 8 consecutive quarters and met a performance standard of 85% for specific performance measures. Following these treatment guidelines improves adherence to ACC/AHA Clinical Guideline recommendations, monitors drug safety and the overall quality of care provided to ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non- ST- elevation myocardial infarction patients (NSTEMI). “The American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association commend Berkshire Medical Center for its success in implementing standards of care and protocols. The full implementation of acute and secondary prevention guideline-recommended therapy is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of heart attack patients,” Gregg C. Fonarow, MD, FACC, FAHA, ACTION Registry-GWTG Steering Committee Chair and Director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center and James Jollis, MD, FACC, ACTION Registry-GWTG Co-Chair and Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Duke University Hospital. “The time is right for BMC to be focused on improving the quality of cardiovascular care by implementing ACTION Registry–GWTG. The number of acute myocardial infarction patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing incidence of heart disease and a large aging population,” said Gray Ellrodt, MD, Chief Quality Officer of BMC. “This recognition is a reflection of the commitment of our clinical team at BMC to provide only the highest level of care to our patients.” ACTION Registry–GWTG is a partnership between the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association with partnering support from the American College of Emergency Physicians, Society of Chest Pain Centers and the Society of Hospital Medicine. ACTION Registry-GWTG 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 STEMI and NSTEMI patients. ### |
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