Acute Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack)

Project Overview

Heart attack is the number one killer in America. Across the U.S., more than 300,000 Medicare patients are hospitalized with the condition each year. In Arkansas, that number is over 5,200. The National Acute Myocardial Infarction Project project aims to reduce the morbidity and mortality of heart attack patients by focusing on the appropriate use of care processes to improve patient outcomes.

Hospital performance on selected AMI measures is now being reported as an “appropriate care measure,” or ACM. ACMs reflect the percentage of patients who received all the recognized components of care for a specific condition. High performance on several components of care, combined with low performance on a single element, can result in a low score on that ACM.

Indicators

• Administration of aspirin within 24 hours before or after hospital arrival
• Aspirin prescribed at discharge
• ACEI or ARB for LVSD
• Smoking cessation counseling during hospitalization
• Beta Blocker prescribed at discharge
• Administration of beta blocker within 24 hours of hospital arrival
• Median time to fibrinolysis
• Fibrinolytic therapy received within 30 minutes of hospital arrival
• Median time to primary PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention)
• Primary PCI received within 90 minutes of hospital arrival

Performance Measures (PDF Document)

Specifications manual (QualityNet Website)