Adventist Medical Center, a Leader in the Treatment of Heart Disease

PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Adventist Medical Center (AMC) is in the top 10% of hospitals nationwide for consistently beating national guidelines in several important measures including; Overall Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) performance, Overall Defect Free Care, ST elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) performance, and Door to Balloon Time, for the treatment of patients experiencing a heart attack.  That's one of the reasons AMC has received the American College of Cardiology Foundation's NCDR ACTION Registry–GWTG Gold Performance Achievement Award for 2011.

AMC is one of only four hospitals in Oregon to receive national recognition. The award signifies AMC's commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients, and signifies that AMC 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.

Jim Pelch, executive director of Cardiovascular Services at the Northwest Regional Heart Center, states that the comprehensive cardiac center has already reached significant milestones in treating cardiac patients. The hospital consistently beats the national benchmark for the time taken to treat a heart attack patient from arrival to treatment and is one of only two accredited chest pain centers in Oregon.

To receive the ACTION Registry–GWTG Gold Performance Achievement Award, AMC 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 full implementation of acute and secondary prevention guideline-recommended therapy is a critical step in saving lives and improving outcomes of heart attack patients," says Pelch.

Brad Titus, M.D., vice president of cardiovascular services and interventional cardiologist at Northwest Regional Heart Center, said the award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the staff and their commitment to mission excellence. "The full implementation of acute and secondary prevention guideline-recommended therapy is a critical step in saving lives and improving outcomes of heart attack patients," states Titus.

Throughout the United Stated we are seeing the incidence and mortality rates of heart diseases improving through advances in medical care and improvement in quality. Despite these improvements, the number of heart attack patients we treat is expected to grow over the next decade due to an aging population, stated Pelch. "We're continually implementing ACTION guidelines to continue to improve the excellent quality of cardiovascular care we provide."

About Adventist Medical Center (AMC)
Adventist Medical Center (AMC), located in southeast Portland, is a nonprofit, 302-bed acute care facility, offering a full range of inpatient, outpatient and emergency services throughout the Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area. 

Adventist Medical Center is part of Adventist Health, a faith-based, not-for-profit integrated health care delivery system with nearly 20,000 employees serving communities in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. Founded on Seventh-day Adventist health values, Adventist Health provides compassionate care in 17 hospitals, more than 130 physician and rural health clinics, 14 home care agencies and four joint-venture retirement centers. We invite you to visit http://www.adventisthealthnw.com for more information.

Media Contacts:
Judy Leach, Director
Adventist Health
(503) 251-6162
[email protected]

SOURCE Adventist Medical Center