COVER STORY | LOCAL PROFILE
Cardiologist Christopher Good, D.O., Vice President of Operations Marlow Levy and Deborah Pora, clinical director at the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute at UPMC Hamot, are committed to excellence in cardiac care.
Regional Hospital Raises the Bar in Cardiac Care UPMC Hamot has a history of breaking new ground when it comes to medical care. In addition to boasting the region’s only certified trauma center, UPMC Hamot is a Certified Comprehensive Stroke Center, and in 2018, was the first in the nation to use robotic bronchoscopy technology in the battle against lung cancer. Now, UPMC Hamot has added to this growing list of distinctions by raising the bar in cardiac care. In September 2021, UPMC Hamot received its certification as a Comprehensive Cardiac Care Center from both the Joint Commission and the American Heart Association — a certification that means the hospital has delivered high quality clinical heart care over a set period of time. In fact, UPMC Hamot is the first hospital in the UPMC system to achieve this independent stamp of approval. 4
FEBRUARY 2022 • mbabizmag.com
The importance of the cardiac care certification is far-reaching not only for the hospital and the hospital system, but as a valuable resource toward population health in northwest Pennsylvania. The certification demonstrates integrated and coordinated care, early identification of high-risk patients, and timely patient education for informed decision making. The certification also contributes to ongoing quality improvement as related to patient care efficiencies and outcomes. According to Marlow Levy, MBA, RN, FACHE, vice president of operations at UPMC Hamot, “This designation sends a message about the quality of care that patients can expect to receive here — as one of the best hospitals in the country to deliver comprehensive cardiac care.” UPMC Hamot’s participation in the Comprehensive Cardiac Care Center certification program was completely voluntarily, but gave the hospital a rigorous review of its performance as well as cardiac care standards in such areas as heart attacks, heart failure, cardiac resuscitation, arrhythmia management, cardiac
