Five Hackensack Meridian Health Medical Centers Among Nation’s Top in Treating Heart Attack Patients

Five Hackensack Meridian Health medical centers have received the American College of Cardiology’s NCDR Chest Pain  ̶  MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2022.  These medical centers join only 240 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor.

The award recognizes the medical centers’ commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that they have 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 following Hackensack Meridian medical centers received Platinum Performance Achievement Awards;  Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, NJ; Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, NJ; Ocean University Medical Center in Brick, NJ, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, NJ, and JFK University Medical Center in Edison, NJ.

“I’m grateful for our cardiac teams’ and medical centers’ dedication to continually enhance the quality of care, safety, and outcomes for our patients experiencing a heart attack,” said Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health.  “Heart disease remains one of our network’s primary health concerns, with far too many New Jersey residents impacted each year.”

To receive the Chest Pain  ̶  MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award, the Hackensack Meridian medical centers demonstrated sustained achievement in the Chest Pain  ̶   MI Registry for two consecutive years (2020 & 2021), 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.

“It is an honor to award the Hackensack Meridian medical centers with the Platinum Performance Award for their valuable national leadership and dedication to meeting comprehensive performance measures in patient care,” 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 receipt of this award indicates that they remain committed to providing top quality, guideline-driven care for heart attack patients. Their success ensures patients are receiving the highest quality cardiovascular care.”

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that over 800,000 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.

Chest Pain  ̶  MI Registry 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 heart attack patients.

For information about Hackensack Meridian Health’s comprehensive cardiovascular services, visit www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/en/Services/Heart-Care.  For a free physician referral, call 844-HMH-WELL.