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Shawnee Mission Medical Center receives American Heart Association’s Get with the Guidelines Gold Performance Achievement Award

MERRIAM, Kan. — Shawnee Mission Medical Center (SMMC) recently received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines – Coronary Artery Disease (GWTG–CAD) Gold Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes SMMC’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of cardiac care that effectively improves treatment of patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease.  Under the GWTG–CAD program, patients are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers in the hospital and receive smoking cessation/weight management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before they are discharged. Hospitals that receive the GWTG-CAD Gold Performance Achievement Award have demonstrated for 24 consecutive months that at least 85 percent of its eligible coronary patients (without contraindications) are discharged following the American Heart Association’s recommended treatment guidelines. 

“The American Heart Association applauds Shawnee Mission Medical Center for its success in implementing the appropriate evidence-based care and protocols to reduce the number of recurrent events and deaths in cardiovascular disease patients,” said Gregg C Fonarow, MD, National Chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and Director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center. “Shawnee Mission Medical Center has achieved a high level of performance in terms of implementing these life-prolonging treatments.”

“Shawnee Mission Medical Center is dedicated to making our Heart & Vascular Center among the best in the country, and the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines program is helping us accomplish that by making it easier for our clinical staff to improve the long-term outcomes of our cardiac patients,” said Administrative Director of Heart & Vascular Services, Pamela Shute. “We are pleased to be recognized for our dedication and achievements in cardiac care.”

The American Heart Association’s GWTG–CAD program helps hospitals increase the use of and adherence to the association’s secondary prevention guidelines for coronary artery disease. Developed to assist health care professionals follow proven standards and procedures before patients are discharged, GWTG–CAD can help Shawnee Mission Medical Center reduce the risk of recurrent heart attacks and death in treated patients. The program mobilizes teams in acute care hospitals to implement American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines. 

According to the American Heart Association, approximately 565,000 people suffer a new heart attack and 300,000 experience a recurrent heart attack each year. Statistics also show that within one year of a heart attack, 18 percent of men and 23 percent of women will die. Within five years after an attack, about 33 percent of men and 43 percent of women will die. 

The American Heart Association’s GWTG program is being implemented in hospitals around the country.

About Shawnee Mission Medical Center
Shawnee Mission Medical Center (SMMC) is a 383-bed facility with nearly 20,000 inpatient admissions and more than 200,000 outpatient admissions annually. SMMC has the busiest emergency department in Johnson County, the area's first accredited Chest Pain Emergency Center, a nationally recognized Center for Women's Health and delivers more babies each year than any other hospital in the metropolitan area. SMMC employs more than 2,800 local residents and supports an exceptional staff of 700 physicians representing 50 medical specialties, the largest medical staff in Kansas City. Visit us on the Web at ShawneeMission.org.