Cheyenne Regional Medical Center Receives Platinum Performance Achievement Award for Care of Heart Attack Patients

August 26, 2015

Cheyenne, WY—Cheyenne Regional Medical Center (CRMC) has received the American College of Cardiology’s  (ACC) Platinum Performance Achievement award for providing a high level of care and treatment to heart attack patients.

CRMC is one of only 319 hospitals nationwide to receive this honor for 2015.

To receive the award, CRMC consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the ACTION Registry®–GWTG™ Premier for eight consecutive quarters and met a performance standard of 90 percent for specific quality performance measures. The ACTION Registry provides three levels of recognition: platinum, gold and silver.

“This award recognizes our commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients,” said cardiologist Muhammad Khan, MD, medical director of cardiovascular care at CRMC. “It signifies that Cheyenne Regional Medical Center has reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients to standard levels of care as outlined by the registry’s guidelines and recommendations.”

The ACTION Registry—GWTG is a partnership between the ACC Foundation and the American Heart Association (AHA) with support from the American College of Emergency Physicians and the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care. The registry is a risk-adjusted, outcomes-based quality improvement program that focuses on the treatment of patients having a heart attack.

Full participation in the registry engages hospitals in a robust quality improvement process using data to drive improvements and overall quality of care provided to heart attack patients.

“This award is tangible evidence of all the hard work and commitment to quality improvement that’s been made by our cardiovascular team and our emergency department,” said Craig Luzinski, CRMC’s vice president of performance optimization. “This award is also important for our community because it shows that Cheyenne Regional Medical Center is focused on sustaining optimal care for heart attack patients over the long term.”

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 700,000 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.

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

“This award reflects the commitment that our hospital and employees have made to provide the highest level of care to heart attack patients,” Dr. Khan said. “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.”

CRMC is also the recipient of several other notable awards this year, including:

• A gold-level award from the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline® program for implementing prompt, evidence-based care for patients experiencing severe heart attacks

• Selection as one of 100 great community hospitals in the nation by Becker’s Hospital Review, a national hospital and healthcare trade publication

• The number one ranking in Wyoming for overall hospital, medical and surgical care by the healthcare quality ratings firm CareChex

About The American College of Cardiology

The American College of Cardiology is a 49,000-member medical society focusing on cardiovascular care. Its mission is to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health. The ACC leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. It also operates national registries to measure and improve care, offers professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research and provides credentials to cardiovascular specialists who meet stringent qualifications.