This year, St. Luke’s has earned a perfect 100 percent compliance with the Heart Attack Quality Measures established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The treatments in these quality measures have been proven to provide the best results to most of the people who suffer a heart attack.

The measures related to heart attack care include:
1) Percent of patients given ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitors or ARB (angiotensin receptor blockers), which are medicines used to treat heart attacks, heart failure or a decreased function of the heart.
2) Percent of patients given aspirin at arrival to help keep blood clots from forming and dissolve blood clots that can cause heart attacks.
3) Percent of patients given aspirin when discharged from the hospital to help prevent further heart attacks.
4) Percent of patients given beta blockers at arrival to lower blood pressure, treat chest pain and heart failure.
5) Percent of patients given beta blockers at discharge to help prevent another heart attack.
6) Percent of patients given smoking cessation counseling to help prevent another heart attack.


“These quality measures were developed to help patients evaluate how well their hospital is doing at providing evidence-based best practices,” says St. Luke’s Manager of Quality Improvement Elizabeth Avants. “We are proud of our high-quality heart attack care, which has improved from an 86 percent score on these measures in 2006.”