WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center’s Heart Center has received the American College of Cardiology Foundation’s NCDR ACTION Registry–GWTG Gold Performance Achievement Award for 2009.
The Gold Performance award recognizes commitment and success for implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients during the past two years. The award signifies that Wake Forest Baptist’s Heart Center has reached an aggressive goal of treating coronary artery disease patients with core standard levels of care outlined by the guidelines and recommendations of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA).
“It is an honor to have Wake Forest Baptist recognized for improving the quality of cardiovascular care for patients who have experienced complications associated with heart disease,” said Robert J. Applegate, professor of cardiology at Wake Forest Baptist. The number of acute myocardial infarction patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow due to increasing incidence of heart disease and the large aging population.
“The ACC Foundation and the AHA commend Wake Forest Baptist for its success in implementing standards of care and protocols,” said Christopher Cannon, M.D., ACTION Registry–GWTG steering committee chairman, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and associate physician in the Cardiovascular Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“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,” added Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., ACTION Registry- GWTG steering committee vice-chairman and director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center.
The registry was created by the merger of the ACC Foundation’s NCDR ACTION Registry® and the AHA’s Get With The Guidelines-CAD program. The new registry joins the data collection and quality reporting features of the ACTION Registry with the collaborative models, unique tools, and quality improvement techniques of the GWTG-CAD program.
The registry provides guidelines for treating 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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Media Contacts: Ann Hopkins, ahopkins@wfubmc.edu, (336) 716-1280; Bonnie Davis, bdavis@wfubmc.edu, or Shannon Koontz, shkoontz@wfubmc.edu, (336) 716-4587.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (www.wfubmc.edu) is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Brenner Children’s Hospital, Wake Forest University Physicians, and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which operates the university’s School of Medicine and Piedmont Triad Research Park. The system comprises 1,056 acute care, rehabilitation and long-term care beds and has been ranked as one of “America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report since 1993. Wake Forest Baptist also holds the Gold Seal of Approval™ from the Joint Commission, the nation’s esteemed standards-setting and accrediting body for health care quality. Wake Forest Baptist is ranked 32nd in the nation by America’s Top Doctors for the number of its doctors considered best by their peers. The institution ranks in the top third in funding by the National Institutes of Health and fourth in the Southeast in revenues from its licensed intellectual property.