Contact: Brian Reardon (217) 544-6464, ext. 44306.

SPRINGFIELD – Prairie Heart Institute at St. John’s Hospital is among the top 4 percent of heart centers in the nation for overall treatment of heart attack patients, according to the ACTION Registry,™ the largest and most comprehensive national cardiovascular patient database that measures performance in treating patients with acute coronary syndrome.

The overall purpose of the ACTION Registry (Acute Coronary Treatment and Intervention Outcomes Network) is to measure performance in the most clinically-relevant quality indicators in the treatment of heart attack patients and promote quality improvement nationally.

The average time to treatment of the heart attack at Prairie Heart Institute in 2007 was among the fastest in the registry at 51 minutes. Adherence to national treatment guidelines led Prairie to save almost twice as many lives compared to the top performers in the registry.

“As one of many facilities participating in the ACTION Registry, Prairie Heart is able to continually monitor its performance against national benchmarks,” said Dr. Charles Lucore, executive medical director of Prairie Heart Institute. “The ACTION Registry of Prairie Heart Institute confirms that patients in central Illinois can be confident that Prairie provides nationally recognized, outstanding cardiovascular care.”

For more information about Prairie Heart Institute, visit www.prairieheart.com.