AdventHealth Ocala Achieves National Distinction of Excellence for HeartCARE by the American College of Cardiology

September 20, 2021 — AdventHealth Ocala has achieved the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) HeartCARE Center™ National Distinction of Excellence, the organization’s highest honor for cardiovascular care. The HeartCARE Center™ distinction is designed to shine a light on the elite group of hospitals in the United States that go above and beyond to ensure each patient that needs care has access to consistent, highest-quality cardiovascular care.

“AdventHealth Ocala made a commitment to raising the bar on clinical excellence in Marion County and this distinction is a reflection of us honoring our word to this community,” said Joe Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer for AdventHealth Ocala. “We want to be the first choice for heart care and this recognition shows we are home to prestigious care that you won’t be able to find anywhere else.”

Additionally, the hospital attained ACC accreditation in the following expertise areas:

• Cath Lab
• Chest Pain
• Electrophysiology
• Heart Failure
• Transcatheter Valve Certification

AdventHealth Ocala is the first hospital in the AdventHealth system to achieve all five accreditations and the HeartCARE Center™ National Distinction of Excellence. The hospital achieved the status based on world-class cardiovascular care through comprehensive process improvement, and a commitment to professional excellence and community engagement.

“When patients come to us for care, they can trust they are receiving the most exceptional heart care,’ said Lynn Smith, BSN, RN, Director of Cardiovascular Services for AdventHealth Ocala. “Our team has been working around the clock to ensure we’re providing Ocala and the greater Marion County community with unmatched heart care from the best cardiovascular team. We are so proud to have this distinction to share with the community.”

AdventHealth Ocala has also earned a distinguished three-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) for its patient care and outcomes in isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures. The three-star rating, which denotes the highest category of quality, places the hospital among the elite for heart bypass surgery in the United States and Canada.

The STS star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in health care, rating the benchmarked outcomes of cardiothoracic surgery programs across the United States and Canada.

About AdventHealth Ocala

AdventHealth Ocala is a 385-bed full-service community hospital that opened in 1898. In August 2018, AdventHealth Ocala became a part of the AdventHealth network. The facility is 640,000 square feet and sits on 15-acres. Within the hospital network there are two 24/7 ER facilities, one onsite and another offsite, to better meet the needs of Marion County. The onsite ER has both an adult and children’s emergency department that has over 50 combined beds with the ability to treat many conditions and injuries. Established in 2002, the offsite ER, AdventHealth TimberRidge ER, is a 24-hour full-service emergency department with 16 private rooms and was the first offsite ER in the state of Florida. The hospital offers many inpatient services including, labor and delivery through The Baby Place®, Orthopedic unit, comprehensive cardiovascular surgery unit, and a wound care center. AdventHealth Ocala is accredited The Joint Commission and has received recognition from American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. They are accredited by the American College of Cardiology in Chest Pain, Heart Failure, Cardiac Cath Lab, Electrophysiology, Transcatheter Valve Certified and awarded the HeartCARE™ Center designation. They are also a Certified Advanced Primary Stroke Center as well as a Center of Excellence in Robotic Surgery.

About AdventHealth West Florida Division

The West Florida Division of AdventHealth has some of the nation’s brightest medical minds making lifesaving breakthroughs with surgical pioneers, scientists and researchers using leading edge technology and innovation to deliver our brand of whole-person care. Our network of care includes AdventHealth Carrollwood, AdventHealth Connerton, AdventHealth Dade City, AdventHealth Lake Placid, AdventHealth North Pinellas, AdventHealth Ocala, AdventHealth Sebring, AdventHealth Tampa, AdventHealth Wauchula, AdventHealth Wesley Chapel and AdventHealth Zephyrhills, as well as five freestanding offsite Emergency Rooms including AdventHealth Brandon ER, AdventHealth Central Pasco ER, AdventHealth Palm Harbor ER, AdventHealth TimberRidge ER, and AdventHealth Westchase ER. We are more than hospitals, as we have a robust system of care including specialty acute care, over 200 primary care and specialty employed physicians, Express Care at Walgreens clinics, urgent care centers, wound care, physical therapy, home care, mobile mammography and more. AdventHealth is a faith-based not-for-profit health care system with a mission of Extending the Healing Ministry of Christ. AdventHealth has hundreds of care sites and nearly 50 hospitals across the United States. For more information about AdventHealth, visit AdventHealth.com, or Facebook.com/AdventHealth, and for West Florida Division, click here.