NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., July 11, 2013 --- Underscoring its status as a major health services provider in Orange County, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian has announced that its Irvine hospital now can receive emergency cardiac patients after the county awarded it special status following a rigorous review process.

Hoag Hospital Irvine’s designation as a Cardiovascular Receiving Center (CVRC) went into effect Monday, July 1, and is a reflection of Hoag’s longstanding reputation throughout Orange County as an excellent provider of heart and vascular care, said Robert Braithwaite, president and CEO at Hoag.

“This is something we’ve been working toward since we opened Hoag Hospital Irvine in September 2010, and is something the Irvine community has wanted,” Braithwaite said. “Earning this status would not have been possible without the entire Hoag organization coming together,” he continued, noting that Hoag had to go through the full application process for CVRC status after it took over the campus from its previous operator, Tenet, and closed the facility for two years.

The CVRC status means that Hoag Hospital Irvine now is one of only 13 hospitals in Orange County, including Hoag Hospital Newport Beach, which can directly receive patients via ambulance who are suffering a heart attack and need immediate attention. Prior to July 1, such patients in the Irvine area had to be routed by paramedics to other hospitals farther away with the CVRC designation.

The status of CVRC is re-evaluated every one to two years, and is awarded by the Orange County Emergency Medical Services (OCEMS) following an exhaustive site survey and review of an application and supporting documents. Hoag Hospital Irvine’s designation as a Cardiovascular Receiving Center is effective for one year through June 30, 2014.

Hospitals with CVRC status must meet a variety of standards of care for patients suffering life-threatening heart attacks, as designated by the American Heart Association and other agencies such as OCEMS, whose mission is to appropriately and efficiently respond to emergencies throughout the county.

Because time is of the essence when serious heart events occur, Cardiac Receiving Centers must have an emergency department, cardiac cath lab, cardiologists on staff and a cardiovascular surgeon who work together as a team to help preserve a patient’s heart within 90 minutes following the onset of chest pain.

Teams at CVRC-designated hospitals must be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help patients who are in the throes of high-risk heart attacks known as STEMI, which stands for ST-elevation myocardial infarction. ST elevations refer to abnormal findings on an electrocardiogram.

Patients taken to a CVRC-designated hospital such as Hoag Hospital Irvine are rapidly assessed and triaged, and depending on the patient’s diagnosis and condition, he or she may have immediate angiography, angioplasty or even bypass surgery if necessary.

As a reminder to the community, anyone having chest pains or other warning signs of a heart attack should immediately call 911. Emergency medical services (EMS) staff can begin treatment when they reach you, are trained to revive someone whose heart has stopped and can transport you more quickly to receive hospital care.

Hoag Hospital Irvine is an extension of Hoag’s services in Newport Beach and its seven Hoag Health Centers throughout Orange County. Located at 16200 Sand Canyon Ave., at Alton Parkway just off the 405 freeway, the hospital provides a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services.

Hoag Heart & Vascular Institute also recently received the Get With The Guidelines^®–Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The recognition signifies that the organization has reached an aggressive goal of treating heart failure patients according to the guidelines of care recommended by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology.

For more information, visit www.hoag.org or call 949-764-HOAG.

About Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute

Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute is Orange County’s highest-volume, highest-rated cardiovascular program and one of the preeminent cardiovascular centers on the West Coast. Specialties include diagnostic cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, vascular surgery, endovascular diagnosis and treatment, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, electrophysiology, cardiac rehabilitation, disease management, prevention services, and research. An independent health care research firm rated Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute one of America’s Top 100 Hospitals for cardiac surgery, and American Heart Association has awarded Hoag with its Get With The Guidelines®--Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award.

About Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian
Hoag is an approximately $1 billion nonprofit, regional health care delivery network in Orange County, California, that treats more than 30,000 inpatients and 350,000 outpatients annually. Hoag consists of two acute-care hospitals, seven health centers, and five urgent care centers. Hoag Hospital Newport Beach, which has served Orange County since 1952, and Hoag Hospital Irvine, which opened in 2010, are designated Magnet hospitals by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Hoag offers a comprehensive blend of health care services that includes five institutes providing specialized services in the following areas: cancer, heart and vascular, neurosciences,women’s health, and orthopedics through Hoag’s affiliate, Hoag Orthopedic Institute. Hoag has been named one of the Best Regional Hospitals in the U.S. News & World Report Metro Edition. National Research Corporation has endorsed Hoag as Orange County’s most preferred hospital for the past 17 consecutive years and, for an unprecedented 17 years, residents of Orange County have chosen Hoag as the county’s best hospital in a local newspaper survey. Visit www.hoag.org for more information.