Applications open July 1 for The Joint Commission and American Heart Association's two new heart attack certification programs, Acute Heart Attack Ready and Primary Heart Attack Center, according to a post from The Joint Commission's blog.
The programs offer certifications to hospitals that meet standards for heart attack treatment, which are set by clinical practice guidelines for assessment, monitoring, management and performance.
Eligibility requirements for both programs include a minimum number of 10 patients and participation in AHA's Get with The Guidelines — Coronary Artery Disease program. Both programs measure performance with four standards related to treatment response time, such as the length of time from patient arrival to performance of an electrocardiogram.
The AHAR program is for hospitals without 24/7 coverage of primary percutaneous coronary intervention. These can include small community or rural acute care hospitals, critical access hospitals and freestanding emergency departments.
The PHAC program is for large community acute care hospitals or medical centers with 24/7 on-site PCI coverage.