Treating heart-attack patients

We look at several factors -- from aspirin to smoking-cessation advice --  to determine a performance score to measure how we treat heart-attack patients.

How we determine our score: We track the percentage of our patients who receive care according to these national standards and combine those percentages for an overall average or performance score. The standards are:

• Aspirin:
  • The number of heart-attack patients who receive aspirin within 24 hours of arriving at the hospital. Aspirin can be critical to preventing blood clots.
  • The number of heart-attack patients who are prescribed aspirin at hospital discharge.
• Beta blockers:
  • The number of heart-attack patients who are prescribed beta blockers upon discharge. Beta blockers can help reduce high blood pressure and complications from a heart attack.
  • The number of heart-attack patients who receive a beta blocker within 24 hours of hospital arrival.
• Blood thinners: The number of heart-attack patients who receive blood-thinning medication within 30 minutes of arrival at the hospital.
• Percutaneous coronary intervention:  The number of heart-attack patients who receive percutaneous coronary intervention  within 90 minutes upon arrival at the hospital. This procedure can open up blood vessels to prevent a heart attack
• Medications: The number of heart-attack patients with symptoms of heart failure or decreased heart function who receive specific medications for those symptoms. 
• Smoking: The number of heart-attack patients who are provided education during their stay about how to stop smoking.