Barry M. Straube, MD, director of the Office of Clinical Standards and Quality (OCSQ) and the chief medical officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) presented SMH with the Innovator Award for its efforts in enhancing cardiac care for the community. Accepting for SMH was Clint Mickle, SMH Administrator of Cardiovascular Services, Sherry Jensen, SMH Quality and Risk Manager and Stefanie Ballard, SMH Quality and Risk Analyst.
BENTON — Increasing access to cardiac care in Saline County has been a priority of Saline Memorial Hospital’s over the past few years and it continues to be. SMH was recently chosen as a recipient of the 2010 Innovator Award at the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care’s annual Quality Awards program for its efforts to enhance cardiac care for the community.[more]
The Quality Awards are designed to recognize individual performance improvement in AFMC’s quality improvement projects. The Innovator Award honors hospitals that developed new, creative patient safety projects that successfully improved patient care.
“We have a great team of cardiologists and staff who are available to treat cardiac patients 24 hours a day,” said Randy Fortner, SMH President and CEO. “Saline County residents no longer have to drive outside of the community to receive the care they need. We will continue to expand our heart and vascular services to better meet the needs of our patients.”
In September of 2008, SMH opened an interventional cath lab to perform emergent and non-emergent cardiovascular procedures. Currently, cardiologists from Heart Clinic Arkansas and Saline Heart Group are available 24-7 to care for patients experiencing a cardiovascular event.
SMH was also commended for encouraging cardiovascular health by hosting a 5K event, for providing heart screenings and educational seminars and for developing an online cardiac assessment tool to assess a patient’s risk. The funds from the 5K race have been used to purchase new 12-lead cardiac monitors for the SMH ambulance service.
“It's exciting to be part of a team that has established cardiac services that are not only comparable to those provided in Little Rock, but are in fact, in many cases, more efficient and conducive to better patient outcomes,” said Clint Mickle, SMH Administrator of Cardiovascular Services.
Barry M. Straube, MD, director of the Office of Clinical Standards and Quality (OCSQ) and the chief medical officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), presented the award at a luncheon Friday, May 21, as part of AFMC’s annual Quality Conference in Little Rock.
For more information about the heart and vascular services provided at SMH, visit www.salinememorial.org.
