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Baton Rouge General Named Certified Chest Pain Center

Baton Rouge, La. – Baton Rouge General announced today that it was named a Certified Chest Pain Center by The Joint Commission. This honor reflects BRG’s commitment to providing safe and effective heart care. This honor reflects BRG’s commitment to providing safe and effective heart care. BRG is the only chest pain center in Baton Rouge to receive the certification.

“If you are having chest pain or other symptoms of a heart attack, the team at Baton Rouge General is certified and ready to help,” said Dr. Louis Minsky, Chief of Staff at Baton Rouge General. “This accreditation demonstrates our commitment to providing the highest quality of care for patients with chest pain.”

According to the Society of Chest Pain Centers, 600,000 people die each year of heart disease in the United States, and heart attacks lead the nation as the number one cause of death. In addition, more than five million Americans visit hospitals each year with chest pain. Hospitals that receive The Joint Commission Chest Pain Center certification have achieved a higher level of expertise in dealing with patients who arrive with heart attack symptoms.

The chest pain certification joins BRG’s other recent achievements in cardiology, including the advanced certification for primary stroke centers and the certification of its cardiac rehab program.

"Baton Rouge General has thoroughly demonstrated a high level of care for patients with chest pains,” said Patrick Phelan, executive director, Hospital Business Development, The Joint Commission. “We commend Baton Rouge General for becoming a leader in chest pain care, potentially providing a higher standard of service for patients with chest pain in its community.”

Established in 2002 and awarded for a two-year period, chest pain programs that received this certification are evaluated on three areas: compliance with consensus-based national standards; effective and consistent use of appropriate, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for the AMI and ACS patient populations; and collection and analysis of a minimum of four performance measures specific to the chest pain patient population (a minimum of two performance measures must be clinical in nature). Learn more about the certification process here: https://www.jointcommission.org/chest_pain_certification_process/.

CareChex has named BRG number one in the state for heart failure treatment in 2015, 2016 and 2017, number one in Greater Baton Rouge for overall medical care for the past three years, and rated BRG in the top 2% of hospitals nationwide for overall medical care in 2017. In addition, BRG was given an ‘A’ rating in patient safety by LeapFrog for five consecutive years.

To learn more about BRG’s heart and vascular services, visit BRGeneral.org/Heart or call (225) 763-4000.

About Baton Rouge General Medical Center
Baton Rouge General Medical Center is the area’s first community hospital with 588 licensed beds between two campuses. Baton Rouge General opened its doors in 1900, and has provided the Greater Baton Rouge community with high-quality healthcare for generations. An accredited teaching hospital since 1991, Baton Rouge General serves as a satellite campus of Tulane University School of Medicine, and offers other medical education programs, including a School of Nursing, School of Radiologic Technology, Family Medicine Residency Program, Internal Medicine Residency Program, and Sports Medicine Fellowship Program. For more information, visit BRGeneral.org, find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/BatonRougeGeneral and follow us on Twitter at @BRGeneral.