Hospital receives cardiac awards

Baptist recognized for heart health care

Baptist Memorial HospitalDeSoto recently earned two awards for the care it provides heart patients.

The American College of Cardiology gave the hospital its 2015 NCDR ACTION Registry-GWTG Platinum Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment and success in implementing a high standard of care for heart attack patients.

To receive the Platinum Performance Achievement Award, Baptist DeSoto consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the ACTION Registry-GWTG for eight consecutive quarters and met a performance standard of 90 percent 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.

Baptist DeSoto also won the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline Bronze Referring Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association for the treatment of patients who suffer severe heart attacks.

Each year in the United States, approximately 250,000 people suffer a type of heart attack called an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, caused by a complete blockage of blood flow to the heart that requires timely treatment. To prevent death,

it’s critical to immediately restore blood flow, either by surgically opening the blocked vessel or by giving clot-busting medication.

Baptist DeSoto earned the award by meeting specific criteria and standards of performance for promptly diagnosing STEMI patients and transferring them to hospitals that provide emergency procedures to re-establish blood flow to blocked arteries when needed.

“These outstanding achievements are due to the partnership with area emergency management teams working diligently with our hospital emergency and cardiac teams and providers at Stern Cardiovascular Foundation to save lives,” said James Huffman, administrator and CEO at Baptist DeSoto. “These awards exemplify their hard work and dedication to continuously offering quality care and improving the outcomes of heart attack patients.”