St. Joseph’s Hospital Recipient of Two National Heart Care Awards

The hospital was named a recipient of the 2008 Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals Cardiovascular Benchmarks award. This distinction reflects achievement of the highest national performance levels for both clinical and managerial excellence. Eight different criteria that measure the use of evidence-based medicine, quality outcomes, high procedure volume, process of care, great efficiency and reasonable cost were analyzed. Four different conditions/procedures were the focus of this assessment: acute myocardial infarctions (heart attacks), heart failure, coronary artery bypass graft and percutaneous coronary intervention. This is the third time that the hospital has appeared in this Top 100 category.

In 2008, St. Joseph's Hospital was one of seven Minnesota hospitals overall and one of four Minnesota teaching hospitals without a cardiovascular residency program to receive this Cardiovascular Benchmarks award. There are 130 hospitals throughout the state; 970 hospitals' performances were examined nationwide.

St. Joseph's Hospital also received the American College of Cardiology Foundation's NCDR ACTION Registry - GWTG Silver Performance Achievement Award for 2008 - one of only 93 hospitals nationwide to do so. The award recognizes St. Joseph's commitment to, and success in, implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients, and signifies that it has reached an aggressive goal of treating coronary artery disease patients with 85 percent compliance to core standard levels of care outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.

To receive the ACTION Registry - GWTG Silver Performance Achievement Award, St. Joseph's Hospital consistently followed the treatment guidelines in ACTION Registry - GWTG for 12 consecutive months. These include aggressive use of medications like cholesterol - lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, and anticoagulants in the hospital.

Sara Criger, CEO, St. Joseph's Hospital, said "Heart disease remains a significant health care challenge in communities nationwide. St. Joseph's Hospital has invested in both the latest technology and expert physician and nursing staffs so we can provide the highest standard of evidence-based, compassionate patient care. Our goals are simple: improve outcomes, reduce long-term complications, and allow individuals to return to the highest possible quality of life."