Trinity Medical Center Recognized for Implementing Quality Heart Disease and Stroke Care

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Trinity Medical Center has been recognized for achievement in using evidence-based guidelines to provide the best possible care to patients through The American Heart Association/ American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines^SM program.

Trinity Medical Center and 569 other hospitals are featured in a July 28 advertisement in the “America’s Best Hospitals” issue of US News & World Report to commemorate their receipt of

Get With The Guidelines Gold or Silver Performance Achievement Award. The awards are given for achievement in coronary artery disease, stroke and/or heart failure treatment.

Hospitals are recognized in each category in which they achieve at least 85 percent compliance to Get With The Guidelines measures. Those hospitals marking 85 percent compliance for 24 consecutive months are given the Gold Performance Achievement Award, with the Silver Performance Achievement award going to those with 85 percent compliance for 12 consecutive months.

Get With The Guidelines is a hospital-based quality-improvement program designed to ensure that hospitals consistently care for cardiac and stroke patients following the most up-to-date guidelines and recommendations. The program addresses coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke. Currently more than 1,450 hospitals participate in the program.

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s advertisement recognizes Trinity’s commitment and success in performance achievement.

“The American Heart Association is pleased to recognize its top Get With The Guidelines participants,” said. Lee Schwamm, M.D., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering committee, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and Vice Chairman of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Healthcare providers who use Get With The Guidelines are armed with the latest evidence-based guidelines and immediate access to clinical decision support, using a set of tools that have been shown to improve delivery of evidence-based care. The goal of this initiative is to improve the quality of life and help reduce deaths and disability among patients with heart disease and stroke.”

“We are proud that the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association have chosen the ‘America’s Best Hospitals’ issue of US News & World Report to recognize Trinity Medical Center for our achievements in their Get With The Guidelines program,” said Bill Heburn, Trinity’s Chief Executive Officer. “Get With The Guidelines gives our professionals the tools and reports they need to effectively treat our coronary heart disease, heart failure and stroke patients.”

About Trinity Medical Center

Trinity Medical Center (formerly Montclair Baptist) is a 560-bed, tertiary care hospital serving residents of Birmingham and surrounding communities. The hospital offers programs and services in all medical and surgical areas. This includes cardiology, robotic surgery, oncology, neurology, women’s health, mental health, digestive diseases, geriatrics, physical medicine and rehab, sports medicine, cardiac and pulmonary rehab, and emergency care. The hospital’s medical staff includes more than 600 physicians representing 30 specialties and subspecialties.

Long recognized as a leader in Cardiology Services, Trinity Medical Center has been ranked by HealthGrades as:

• Best Rated in the Birmingham Area for Overall Cardiac Services
• Best Rated in the Birmingham Area for Coronary Interventional Procedures
• Recipient of the HealthGrades Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award™ in 2009
• Ranked Among Top 10% in the Nation for Cardiac Surgery in 2009
• Ranked Among Top 5 in AL for Overall Cardiac Services - Ranked 2
• Ranked Among Top 5 in AL for Cardiac Surgery - Ranked 3
• Ranked Among Top 5 in AL for Cardiology Services - Ranked 5
• Ranked Among Top 5 in AL for Coronary Interventional Procedures - Ranked 4
• Five-Star Rated for Cardiac Surgery in 2009
• Five-Star Rated for Coronary Bypass Surgery in 2009
• Five-Star Rated for Treatment of Heart Failure - 5 years in a row (2005 - 2009)

HealthGrades has also ranked Trinity’s GI services as:

• Best Rated in the Birmingham Area for GI Medical Treatment
• Ranked Among the Top 5 in AL for GI Medical Treatment
• Five-Star Rated for Treatment of Pancreatitis - 5 years in a row (2005 - 2009)

In addition, Trinity Medical Center is home to a Bariatric Center of Excellence, has been named a Blue Cross Blue Shield Blue Distinction Center for Cardiac Care, and is the recipient of the American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines Silver Performance Achievement Award. The hospital has a dedicated Neuro ICU, new linear accelerator for radiation therapy, 64-slice CT scanner, two new catheterization labs and the da Vinci robotic surgical system for minimally invasive surgery.

About Get With The Guidelines

Get With The Guidelines^SM (GWTG) is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that empowers healthcare teams to save lives and reduce healthcare costs by helping hospitals follow evidence-based guidelines and recommendations. For more information, visit americanheart.org/getwiththeguidelines.