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Contact: Melissa Jue
(916) 851-2052
Mercy General Hospital and Mercy San Juan Medical Center
Designated Blue Distinction Centers for Cardiac Care®
The national award recognizes Mercy General and Mercy San Juan's high volumes of cardiac patients treated at the hospitals by experienced physicians and staff who provide the full range of cardiac care
Sacramento, CA, April 28, 2009 - Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento and Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael have been designated Blue Distinction Centers for Cardiac Care by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.
Blue Distinction® is a designation awarded to medical facilities that have demonstrated expertise in delivering quality healthcare. The designation is based on rigorous, evidence-based, objective selection criteria developed by expert physicians' and medical organizations' recommendations.
Mercy General Hospital and Mercy San Juan Medical Center have been designated Blue Distinction Centers for Cardiac Care since 2006. "We are honored and excited," said Doris Frazier, vice president of cardiovascular services at the Mercy Heart & Vascular Institute. "This designation indicates that Mercy continues to provide the highest quality of cardiac care based on stringent, quality-focused criteria. This designation places both Mercy hospitals among the top cardiovascular hospitals nationally and we are very fortunate to have two hospitals with such recognized quality in the Sacramento area."
The criteria for selection as a Blue Distinction Center for Cardiac Care include an established cardiac care program, performing required annual volumes for certain procedures; appropriate experience of its cardiac team, including subspecialty board certification for interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons; an established acute care inpatient facility, including intensive care, emergency and a full range of cardiac services; full accreditation by the Joint Commission; low overall complication and mortality rates and a comprehensive quality management program.
The American Heart Association estimates 1.2 million Americans will experience a first or recurrent heart attack this year.
"The Blue Distinction Centers for Cardiac Care were developed by Blue Plans to provide consumers a reliable and credible source for specialty care information," Frazier said. "The cardiac team at Mercy is focused on providing the best outcomes for all patients, whether a patient needs a simple cardiac diagnostic test, an emergency angioplasty for heart attack, complex cardiac surgery to bypass blocked arteries or replace a heart valve, or cardiac rehabilitation."
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About Mercy General Hospital
Mercy General Hospital has been serving the Sacramento community for more than 100 years. Founded by the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy General has been at its current site in the heart of East Sacramento since 1925. Mercy General Hospital has 342 licensed beds, a physician staff of more than 700. Mercy General performs over 1,000 cardiac surgical procedures per year, over 1,600 electrophysiology procedures per year, and over 4,000 cardiac catheterizations per year. Mercy General is one of six Sacramento area hospitals that are part of Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), a system of 41 hospitals and medical centers in California, Arizona and Nevada and the nation?s eighth largest healthcare system. In 2008, CHW provided more that $966 million in charity care and unsponsored community benefit.
About Mercy San Juan Medical Center
Mercy San Juan Medical Center is a 260-bed facility that serves more than 150,000 people each year from north Sacramento County, south Placer County and beyond with a broad array of quality programs and services. Mercy San Juan has made the Thomson national "100 Top Hospitals" list each of the last two years by excelling in such areas as quality care, patient safety and growth. Doctors are the cornerstone behind teams of healthcare professionals who lead nationally recognized programs such as bariatric surgery, cardiac, neonatal intensive care and trauma. Mercy San Juan is part of Mercy, which also operates Mercy General Hospital, Mercy Hospital of Folsom and Methodist Hospital.
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