Austin-Area St. David’s HealthCare Sites Lauded For Quality Care

AUSTIN, TX — Several St. David’s HealthCare facilities are being recognized by the American Heart Association for providing quality care for coronary artery disease throughout 2019, officials announced this week.

St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center and St. David’s South Austin Medical Center each received the Mission: Lifeline® STEMI Gold Plus Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association for the treatment of STEMI heart attack patients, according to an advisory.

St. David’s North Austin Medical Center received the Mission: Lifeline STEMI Gold Award. Additionally, St. David’s Medical Center and St. David’s North Austin Medical Center were recognized with the Mission: Lifeline NSTEMI Gold Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association for the treatment of non-STEMI heart attack patients.

Every year, more than 250,000 people in the U.S. experience an ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), the deadliest type of heart attack. A STEMI is caused by a blockage of blood flow to the heart, and it requires timely treatment, officials noted. To prevent death, it’s critical to restore blood flow as quickly as possible, either by mechanically opening the blocked vessel or by providing clot-busting medication, officials added.

The American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline program’s goal is to reduce system barriers to prompt treatment for heart attacks, beginning with the 9-1-1 call, to EMS transport and continuing through hospital treatment and discharge. The initiative provides tools, training and other resources to support heart attack care following protocols from the most recent evidence-based treatment guidelines.

To learn more about the program and its recognition criteria, please visit the American Heart Association’s website.

About St. David’s HealthCare

St. David’s HealthCare includes seven of the area’s leading hospitals and is one of the largest health systems in Texas. The organization has been recognized with a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award—the nation’s highest presidential honor for performance excellence. St. David’s HealthCare is the fourth-largest private employer in the Austin area, with more than 10,600 colleagues across 132 sites of care.

St. David’s HealthCare is a unique partnership between hospital management company HCA Healthcare and two local non-profits—St. David’s Foundation and Georgetown Health Foundation. The proceeds from the operations of the hospitals fund the foundations, which, in turn, invest those dollars back into the community. Since the inception of St. David’s HealthCare in 1996, more than $611 million has been given back to the community to improve the health and healthcare of Central Texans.

About Mission: Lifeline

The American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline program helps hospitals and emergency medical services develop systems of care that follow proven standards and procedures for STEMI patients. The program works by mobilizing teams across the continuum of care to implement the American Heart Association’s clinical treatment guidelines. For more information, visit Heart.org.