LewisGale Medical Center among nation's top performing hospitals for treatment of heart attack patients

LewisGale Medical Center is one of 61 hospitals nationwide to receive the American College of Cardiology’s NCDR Chest Pain   ̶ MI Registry Gold Performance Achievement Award for 2024. LewisGale Medical Center is one of only 61 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor.  

The award recognizes LewisGale Medical Center’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that LewisGale Medical Center 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, LewisGale Medical Center has demonstrated sustained achievement in the Chest Pain   ̶ MI Registry for two consecutive years (2021 and 2022) 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. 

“We’re honored to receive the Gold Performance Award for our dedication to meeting comprehensive performance measures in patient care and demonstrating leadership to high-quality performance,” Michele Gillespie, LewisGale Regional Health System vice president of cardiovascular services, said. “This recognition demonstrates our commitment to providing the highest quality patient care for our cardiovascular patients.”  

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.