Faith Regional Health Services Among Nation’s Top Performing Hospitals for Treatment of Heart Attack Patients

Faith Regional Health Services has received the American College of Cardiology’s NCDR Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Gold Performance Achievement Award for 2022. Faith Regional is one of only 81 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor.

The award recognizes Faith Regional’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that Faith Regional 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 Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Gold Performance Achievement Award, Faith Regional has demonstrated sustained achievement in the Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry for two consecutive years (2020 and 2021), and performed at the top 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 Faith Regional with the Gold 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 Faith Regional remains 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.

“Awards, such as the Chest Pain MI Registry Gold Performance Achievement, do not happen by accident,” said Brian Blecher, Faith Regional Physician Services Chief Operating Officer. “They take a dedicated team of providers, nurses, and staff to commit to the highest standards of care for each of our patients and the region. This award, given by the American College of Cardiology, is greatly appreciated but the highest reward is knowing that the Faith Regional team continues to drive excellence for our patients and communities.”

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.