San Juan Regional Health

San Juan Regional Medical Center has received the American College of Cardiology’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry ACTION Registry–Get With the Guidelines (GWTG) Silver Performance Achievement Award for 2014, one of 139 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor.

The award recognizes San Juan Regional Medical Center’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients, and signifies that it 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.

To receive the ACTION Registry–GWTG Silver Performance Achievement Award, San Juan Regional Medical Center consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the ACTION Registry–GWTG for four 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.

“The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association commend San Juan Regional Medical Center for its success in implementing high standards of care and protocols,” said James Jollis, MD, FACC, ACTION Registry-GWTG Chair, and professor of medicine and radiology at Duke University Hospital. “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.”     

“This award is a proud achievement for San Juan Regional Medical Center,” said Cardiac Service Line Director, Barbara Charles. “It reflects the hard work and dedication of the staff who care for seriously ill patients and their families. The implementation of these guidelines requires successful coordination of the cardiovascular team and emergency personnel and is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of heart attack patients.”

ACTION Registry–GWTG is a partnership between the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association with partnering support from the American College of Emergency Physicians and the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care. ACTION Registry-GWTG empowers healthcare 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.

The American College of Cardiology is a 47,000-member medical society that serves as the professional home for the entire cardiovascular care team. The mission of the college is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health. The college operates national registries to measure and improve care. It also provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research, and bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet stringent qualifications. For more information, visit cardiosource.org/ACC.