News
The St. Luke’s Monroe Campus Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory has been awarded full accreditation by Accreditation for Cardiovascular Excellence (ACE). This key designation means that the St. Luke’s Monroe Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory can perform elective angioplasties.
ACE is an independent, physician-led organization that evaluates and monitors facilities that provide cardiovascular care. The State of Pennsylvania requires hospitals and facilities that don’t have a cardiac surgery program to receive ACE accreditation before they are able to perform elective angioplasties. An angioplasty is a procedure performed to widen narrowed or obstructed arteries or veins.
“During its accreditation process, ACE reviewed our cardiac program, and particularly our catheterization lab, and determined that St. Luke’s Monroe provides the highest quality care possible for our cardiac patients,” says Kevin McGovern, St. Luke’s Vice President of Operations. “This accreditation means our patients can have confidence in our processes and our excellent record of patient outcomes.”
An ACE accreditation review consists of:
- An online application process;
- Review of registry data;
- A site visit by experienced catheterization laboratory nurses that includes review of adherence to policies and procedures, and a medical record review; and
- Review of randomly selected cases by physicians.
“The fact that ACE has catheterization lab nurses and interventional cardiologists—not administrators—look at what we’re doing underscores the integrity of the process,” McGovern says.
There are approximately nine hospitals in Pennsylvania that have earned ACE accreditation. St. Luke’s Monroe Campus is just the second new program to receive this designation.
By granting full accreditation, ACE determined that the St. Luke’s Monroe Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory is dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of quality care and current best practices. In addition, ACE established that the lab only performs procedures when they are appropriate, its post-procedure care meets nationally accepted gold standards, and patient outcomes meet or exceed those of comparable facilities that follow medical best practices.
“St. Luke's has a strong tradition of providing excellent heart and vascular care,” said Don Seiple, St. Luke’s Monroe Campus President. “Through this accreditation, we are able to strengthen the program at St. Luke’s Monroe Hospital, allowing us to bring the best cardiology services to the residents of Monroe County.”
For more information about the St. Luke’s Monroe Campus, and a full list of services and resources available, please visit www.slhn.org/Monroe.Media Contact:
Sam Kennedy, Corporate Communications Director, 484-526-4134, samuel.kennedy@sluhn.org
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network providing services at seven hospitals and more than 270 outpatient sites in the greater Lehigh Valley. The network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first and only regional medical school campus. Dedicated to advancing health education, St. Luke’s operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing and 23 graduate medical educational programs and is considered a major teaching hospital – the only one in its region. Repeatedly, including 2017, St. Luke’s earned Truven’s 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital and 50 Top Cardiovascular Program designations, in addition to other honors for clinical excellence. St. Luke’s is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of St. Luke’s information technology applications such as electronic medical records, telehealth, online scheduling and pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.
