Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth Receives Chest Pain Center Accreditation
Contact: Mary Johnson, (817) 922-7088 or Sunny Drenik, (817) 922-7100Email: maryjohn@baylorhealth.edu or sunnydr@baylorhealth.edu
(FORT WORTH, TEXAS – February 11, 2008) – Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth has received full Cycle II accreditation with PCI from the Accreditation Review Committee on January 4, 2008. Accreditation expires January 3, 2011. Baylor All Saints Medical Center is the 383rd accredited Chest Pain Center in the nation.
"The Chest Pain Center accreditation signifies the commitment by the staff, physicians and administration of Baylor All Saints Medical Center to achieve excellence in cardiovascular outcomes and patient care," said Carl Horton, M.D., medical director, Baylor All Saints Medical Center Chest Pain Center. "It is an important step by the cardiovascular division of continuous quality improvement and adherence to nationally recognized guidelines by the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association. This is not only good for our facility, but it also raises the level of cardiovascular care in Fort Worth and the surrounding communities."
Heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the United States, with 600,000 dying annually of heart disease. More than five million Americans visit hospitals each year with chest pain. The goal of the Society of Chest Pain centers is to significantly reduce the mortality rate of these patients by teaching the public to recognize and react to the early symptoms of a possible heart attack, reduce the time that it takes to receive treatment, and increase the accuracy and effectiveness of treatment.
The Chest Pain Center's protocol driven and systematic approach to patient management allows physicians to reduce time to treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack, when treatments are most effective, and to better monitor patients when it is not clear whether they are having a coronary event. Such observation helps prevent a patient from being sent home too early or needlessly admitted.
With the rise of Chest Pain Centers came the need to establish standards designed to improve the consistency and quality of care provided to patients. The Society's accreditation process affirms (or certifies) that centers meet or exceed quality-of-care measures in acute cardiac medicine.
The Chest Pain Center at Baylor All Saints Medical Center has demonstrated its expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and completing on-site evaluations by a review team from the Society of Chest Pain Centers. Key areas in which a Chest Pain Center must demonstrate expertise include:
- Integrating the emergency department with the local emergency medical system
- Assessing, diagnosing and treating patients quickly
- Effectively treating patients with low risk for acute coronary syndrome and no assignable cause for their symptoms
- Continually seeking to improve processes and procedures
- Demonstrating Chest Pain Center personnel competency and training
- Maintaining organizational structure and commitment
- Having a functional design that promotes optimal patient care
- Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to promptly seek medical care if they display symptoms of a possible heart attack
The not-for-profit Baylor All Saints Medical Centers serve more than 100,000 people annually through two hospitals, numerous primary care physician centers and practices, a rehabilitation and fitness center, and a variety of medical specialties. Programs of excellence in cardiology, transplantation, neurosciences, oncology and women's services form the heart of the hospitals' services. All Saints joined Baylor Health Care System in January 2002. All Saints Health Foundation, a separately incorporated not-for-profit organization, raises and manages charitable funds to support Baylor All Saints Medical Centers. For fiscal year 2007, Baylor Health Care System reported $390 million* in community benefit, which includes providing care for charity patients and patients enrolled in government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, as well as the unreimbursed costs of medical education, research and community programs.
*Represents preliminary information that will be reported to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Physicians are members of the medical staff at one of Baylor Health Care System's subsidiary, community or affiliated medical centers and are neither employees nor agents of those medical centers, Baylor All Saints Medical Center or Baylor Health Care System.
The Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC) is a patient centric non-profit international professional organization focused upon improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and other related maladies. Established in 1998, the Society is dedicated to patient advocacy and focusing on ischemic heart disease. Central to its mission is the question, "What is right for the patient?" In answer, the Society promotes protocol based medicine, often delivered through a Chest Pain Center model to address the diagnosis and treatment of acute coronary syndromes, heart failure and to promote the adoption of process improvement science by healthcare providers. To best fulfill this mission, the Society of Chest Pain Centers provides accreditation to facilities striving for optimum Chest Pain Center care. SCPC is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
For more information on the Society of Chest Pain Centers visit www.scpcp.org, or contact Robert Lipetz, Executive Director at (614) 442-5950 or director@scpcp.org.