Importantly, it appears guideline-directed care can greatly reduce a large proportion of disparities previ- ously noted in women.24,25 All measures were designed to assess quality of care experienced by individuals who have STEMI or NSTEMI in the inpatient setting. Each measure was designed to limit performance measurement to patients without a valid rea- son for exclusion from the measure. Measure exclusions were those reasons that remove a patient from the denomi- nator, regardless of whether they would be included in the numerator. For example, all measures excluded patients who were <18 years of age, who received comfort care measures only, or in hospice. In contrast to exclusions, denominator exceptions were those conditions that removed a patient from the denominator only if the numerator criteria were not met. Denominator exceptions were used in select cases to allow for a fairer measurement of quality for those providers with higher risk populations. Exceptions were also used to defer to the clinical judgment of the provider. Several of the measures included exceptions. For example, in the case of Inhibitor at Discharge measure, a care provider may write a prescription for an oral P2Y12 receptor inhibi- tor (clopidogrel, ticagrelor, or prasugrel) even if the patient revealed that he/she will not take the medication due to a Table 2. Associated Guidelines and Other Clinical Guidance Documents Clinical Practice Guidelines 1. 2014 AHA/ACC Guideline for the Management of Patients With Non ST-Elevation Acute Coronary Syndromes11 2. 2013 ACCF/AHA Guideline for the Management of ST-Elevation 3. AHA/ACCF Secondary Prevention and Risk Reduction Therapy for Patients With Coronary and Other Atherosclerotic Vascular 4. 2013 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Treatment of Blood Cholesterol to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk in Adults14 5. 