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> Home > About ECMC > News > Press Release
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ECMC Receives Gold Performance Achievement Award for Coronary Heart Disease
BUFFALO, NEW YORK; June 18, 2008-Erie County Medical Center Corporation (ECMC) recently received the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines-Coronary Artery Disease (GWTG-CAD) Gold Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes ECMC's commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of cardiac care that effectively improves treatment of patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease. One of the important criteria is ECMC's ability to provide angioplasty for heart attack patients within 90 minutes of arrival. Currently, ECMC provides that care on average in approximately 70 minutes.
Under the GWTG-CAD program, patients are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers in the hospital and receive smoking cessation/weight management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before they are discharged. Hospitals that receive the GWTG-CAD Gold Performance Achievement Award have demonstrated for 24 consecutive months that at least 85 percent of its eligible coronary patients (without contraindications) are discharged following the American Heart Association's recommended treatment guidelines.
"The American Heart Association applauds ECMC for its success in implementing the appropriate evidence-based care and protocols to reduce the number of recurrent events and deaths in cardiovascular disease patients," said Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., National Chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and Director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center. "ECMC has achieved a high level of performance in terms of implementing these life-prolonging treatments."
"ECMC is dedicated to making our cardiac unit among the best in the country, and the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines program is helping us accomplish that by making it easier for our professionals to improve the long-term outcomes of our cardiac patients," said Michael A. Young, M.H.A., F.A.C.H.E., President and Chief Executive Officer, ECMC Corporation. "We are pleased to be recognized for our dedication and achievements in cardiac care."
The American Heart Association's GWTG-CAD program helps hospitals increase the use of, and adherence to, the association's secondary prevention guidelines for coronary artery disease. Developed to assist healthcare professionals follow proven standards and procedures before patients are discharged, GWTG-CAD can help ECMC reduce the risk of recurrent heart attacks and death in treated patients. The program, which works by mobilizing teams in acute care hospitals to implement American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines, was developed with support from an unrestricted educational grant from Merck & Co., Inc. The American Heart Association's GWTG program is being implemented in hospitals around the country.
According to the American Heart Association, approximately 565,000 people suffer a new heart attack and 300,000 experience a recurrent heart attack each year. Statistics also show that within one year of a heart attack, 18 percent of men and 23 percent of women will die. Within five years after an attack, about 33 percent of men and 43 percent of women will die.
The ECMC Corporation includes an advanced academic medical center (ECMC) with 550 inpatient beds and 136 skilled-nursing-home beds, on- and off-campus health centers, over 40 outpatient specialty care clinics and the Erie County Home, a skilled nursing facility. ECMC is the regional center for trauma, burn care, rehabilitation and is a major teaching facility for the State University of New York at Buffalo. Most ECMC physicians, dentists and pharmacists are dedicated faculty members of the University. More Western New York residents are choosing ECMC for exceptional patient care and customer service provided as a result of its Culture of Care.
NEWS CONTACT: Joe Cirillo at 716-898-4300 or jcirillo@ecmc.edu
