Heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases remain a leading killer of Americans and a major cause of permanent disability. According to the American Heart Association, an estimated 1,000 lives could be saved each year if hospitals treated heart attack patients in a timely manner and followed proven best practices to prevent future heart attacks.

Riverside County Regional Medical Center (RCRMC) follows best practices to treat heart attack and prevent future occurrences among our patients.

Also presented here is the 30-day mortality rate of our patients who have suffered a heart attack. Thirty-day mortality is used because this is the time period when deaths are most likely to be related to the care patients received in the hospital. This data includes deaths within 30 days of an admission to the hospital with heart attack, whether the death occurred in the hospital or after the patient went home, and without regard to the actual cause of the death.

Core Measures

The Joint Commission requires accredited hospitals to collect and submit performance data on the following measure sets:

• Acute Myocardial infarction (heart attack)
• Heart failure
• Community acquired pneumonia
• Surgical Care Improvement Program