Pleasanton, CA -- ValleyCare Health System is only one of 164 hospitals nationwide to receive the American College of Cardiology Foundation’s NCDR ACTION Registry–GWTG Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2012. This is the fifth year in a row ValleyCare has received GWTG recognition for treatment of cardiac patients.
The award recognizes ValleyCare’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients, and signifies that ValleyCare has reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients to levels of care as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.
“Participation is important as it helps identify areas of excellence as well as opportunities for improvement,” says Karen Dynek, MSN, RN, CCRN-CMC, ACC-CCA, ValleyCare Cardiac Resource Nurse and Cath Lab specialist. “It also allows us to apply emerging best practices and position ValleyCare as a quality leader."
To receive the Platinum Performance Achievement Award, ValleyCare consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the ACTION Registry–GWTG Premier for 8 consecutive quarters and met a performance standard of 90% for specific performance measures. Following these treatment guidelines improves adherence to American College of Cardiology and American Hospital Association Clinical Guideline recommendations, monitors drug safety and the overall quality of care provided to heart attack patients.
“The American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association commend ValleyCare 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,” says Gregg C. Fonarow, MD, FACC, FAHA, ACTION Registry-GWTG Steering Committee Chair.
“The time is right for ValleyCare to be focused on improving the quality of cardiovascular care,” says ValleyCare CEO Marcy Feit. “The number of heart attack patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing incidence of heart disease and a large aging population,”
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.
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