SSM Health St. Agnes Hospital earns 4-star rating for cath lab services

SSM Health Dale Michels Heart & Vascular Care at St. Agnes Hospital has achieved a 4-stars rating in the American College of Cardiology and the National Cardiovascular Data Registry’s Cath Lab PCI registry. The ratings are publicly available in Cardio Smart’s Find Your Heart – a tool available online at CardioSmart.org/FindAHospital.

“This honor affirms our commitment and efforts to provide the best possible care for patients who are experiencing a heart issue,” according to Tami Schattschneider, SSM Health St. Agnes Hospital VP Patient Care Services/Chief Nursing Officer. “By following the registry’s guidance, we continue to develop best practices and efficiencies based on the current clinical guideline recommendations.”

The Cath PCI registry is used to report all data pertinent to patients visiting the SSM Health Dale Michels Heart & Vascular Care for a heart cath. The data is reported for all patients, including those undergoing coronary angioplasty and/or coronary stent placement. Using current, evidenced-based research, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association have established best practice guidelines for this patient population. Data submitted to the NCDR is used for compiling and reporting performance reports for each institution utilizing this registry.

“By providing data about large numbers of patients undergoing various procedures, the registry helps facilitate studies to understand how treatments work in the real world,” Schattschneider shares. “Hundreds of research studies and scientific abstracts have been facilitated by NCDR data.”

The Center 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. In turn, without timely intervention, heart muscle will begin to die.

Reporting our data to these registries helps us stay accountable to our patients, Schattschneider explains. “It also helps us ensure we are meeting, or exceeding, evidence-based, best practice guidelines. Whenever an area for improvement is identified, we have a strong team that works hard to make those improvements.”

As the need for timely and quality life-saving heart care services continues to grow, SSM Health St. Agnes Hospital recently completed a $8.5 million SSM Health Dale Michels Heart & Vascular Care expansion project. The area now features a new Cardiac Electrophysiology (EP) Lab, three additional prep/recovery rooms, renovated reception area, new private consultation room, expanded employee spaces to better accommodate increased staff sizes, aesthetic improvements to Intensive Care Unit, and a new, semi-private family waiting area.

To learn more, visit https://www.ssmhealth.com/services/heart-vascular