Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Core Measures

It’s not enough for a hospital to tell you they’re great. The federal government has defined what it means to be great by requiring hospitals across the country to measure their performance based on a set of standards called Core Measures. These include national treatment protocols for Heart Attack or Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI), Heart Failure, Pneumonia, and Surgical Care Improvement/Surgical Infection Prevention. The measures indicate, for example, what percentage of patients who experienced a heart attack received aspirin upon arrival at Saint Mary’s Emergency Department; whether patients with congestive heart failure received discharge instructions; and how long it took the hospital to administer antibiotics to patients with pneumonia.

In Fiscal Year 2011, we met our goal by having a monthly average number of 19 of the 26 CMS core measures in the top ten percentile. To review Saint Mary’s performance on the CMS Hospital Compare website, click here.

Saint Mary’s also has consistently received strong scores on the CMS Core Measures for Heart Attack. That’s important because quality cardiac care is measured in minutes. When you’re having a heart attack, time is muscle. Improving blood flow to the heart as quickly as possible can lessen the damage to heart muscle--and increase your chance of surviving a heart attack.

Our median door-to-balloon time is 60 minutes; more than 30 minutes faster than national guidelines set by the American College of Cardiology for opening blocked arteries. This extraordinary accomplishment is the result of the dedicated physicians, nurses and staff who comprise our cardiac care team. From the Emergency Department to the Cardiac Catheterization Lab to our Cardiovascular Unit, Saint Mary’s is committed to serving you better. Our goal is every heart, on time, every time.