Beta blockers are medicines that relieve the stress on the heart by slowing the heart rate and reducing the force with which the heart muscle contracts to pump blood.

Taking a beta blocker helps lower blood pressure, reduce chest pain and heart failure and help prevent a heart attack.

This measure reports the percentage of heart attack patients who received a beta-blocker within 24 hours of arriving at the hospital.

A higher score is better than a lower one.

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.