Baptist Among Nation’s Top Hospitals for Heart Attack Patients

Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi has received the American College of Cardiology’s NCDR Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2021.

Baptist North Mississippi is one of only 212 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor.

The award recognizes Baptist North Mississippi’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that Baptist North Mississippi 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 Platinum Performance Achievement Award, Baptist North Mississippi has demonstrated sustained achievement in the Chest Pain  ̶   MI Registry for two consecutive years (2019 and 2020), and performed at the highest 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.

“As a Platinum Performance Award recipient, Baptist North Mississippi has established itself as a leader in setting the national standard for improving quality of care in patients with acute myocardial infarction,” said Michael C. Kontos, MD, FACC, chair of the NCDR Chest Pain – MI Registry Steering Subcommittee, and cardiologist at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. “By meeting the award requirements set forth in the registry, Baptist North Mississippi has demonstrated a commitment to providing reliable, comprehensive treatment for heart attack patients based on current clinical guideline recommendations.”

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that almost 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 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.

“We are honored to be among national leaders in setting and meeting stringent standards of care for heart attack patients,” said Bill Henning, CEO and Administrator of Baptist North Mississippi. “This recognition reflects the dedication and hard work put in by our physicians and cardiology team to achieve the best possible outcomes for our patients—which is the greatest reward for us.”

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.

Staff report