Aspirin reduces the blood's tendency to clot in blood vessels after a heart attack. Receiving an aspirin as soon as possible during or after a heart attack has been shown to improve a person's ability to survive a heart attack.

This score measures the percentage of heart attack patients who received an aspirin within 24 hours before or after their arrival at the hospital.

A higher score is better than a low score.

The chart above shows how Cedars-Sinai's performance on this measure compared with the top 10% of hospitals in the United States, the national average for hospitals, the top 10% of hospitals in California and the California average. These data reflect care given to patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from April through June 2007. The national and California data reflect care given to patients from April 2006 through March 2007.