Each of the five Baptist Health System hospitals has received full Cycle II Chest Pain Center Accreditation from the Society of Chest Pain Centers. In order to earn renewed accreditation, Baptist Medical Center, North Central Baptist Hospital, Northeast Baptist Hospital, Southeast Baptist Hospital and St. Luke’s Baptist Hospitals demonstrated expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and completing on-site evaluations by a review team from the Society of Chest Pain Centers.

Key areas in which a Chest Pain Center must demonstrate expertise include:

·        Integrating the emergency department with the local emergency medical system

·        Assessing, diagnosing, and treating patients quickly

·        Effectively treating patients with low risk for acute coronary syndrome and no assignable cause for their symptoms

·        Continually seeking to improve processes and procedures

·        Ensuring Chest Pain Center personnel competency and training

·        Maintaining organizational structure and commitment

·        Having a functional design that promotes optimal patient care

·        Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to promptly seek medical care if they display symptoms of a possible heart attack

In its reaccreditation report, the Chest Pain Center review team praised Baptist Health System for modeling “best practice” in the country in several areas. Physicians and staff from Baptist Health System emergency departments, cath labs and supporting departments worked hard to gain and retain this achievement, which places the five Baptist hospitals’ emergent cardiac care among the best in the nation

In November of 2005, Baptist Health System was the first health system in San Antonio to seek and achieve Chest Pain Center accreditation.