The Role of HeartRescue Partners

Working in select geographies, HeartRescue Partners and their partner agencies work to improve SCA survival rates by expanding and replicating successful city and county out-of-hospital cardiac arrest response programs to statewide levels.

Within their geographies, partners will:

• Develop an integrated community response to SCA
• Implement a common, systematic method of measuring performance and outcomes of SCA
• Educate, train and implement best-practice treatments to the general public, first responders (police/fire), emergency medical services (EMS) and hospitals
• Advance quality improvement model that engages all communities
• Identify and address disparities in resuscitative care for SCA victims
• Build collective support to encourage local agencies to adopt new standards of care and measurement
• Share strategies for implementation that can provide local and regional expertise to advance best practices

HeartRescue United States

HeartRescue United States is a consortium of state and organization-led efforts to increase survival rates from out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest in communities of all sizes.  

This is done through measurement and incremental quality improvement, collaboration, sharing of best practices and education.  HeartRescue United States strives to build a state-based registry that is used to focus community-based programs to improve care for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. To date, HeartRescue United States consists of 15 states, all working toward the common goal to improve resuscitation. The collective expertise, experience, and momentum provide a remarkable resource that can address most any challenge encountered in efforts to improve resuscitation care.

What is the mission of HeartRescue United States?

HeartRescue United States is an initiative designed to provide interested resuscitation stakeholders with knowledge, tools, experience, and expertise to affect positive change that can improve survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The goals correspond to the 2015 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report that described strategies to improve cardiac arrest survival under the banner “A Time To Act”.

To help achieve the goals, we follow a simple mantra of “measure and improve”. The approach is to engage interested states to develop a registry that can be the basis to implement strategic resuscitation programs. These programs can be molded to fit communities and systems large and small. HeartRescue United States appreciates the diversity of emergency response systems and so provides a spectrum of toolkits and expertise to address the range of needs. One of the primary forums to improve care is the Resuscitation Academy. This forum convenes leadership with the goal to develop and implement specific quality improvement strategies for community-based resuscitation.

How is HeartRescue different than other organizations with similar goals?  

HeartRescue United States leverages evidence-based science in order to advance hands-on implementation strategies. The HeartRescue approach is really geared toward community action plans. HeartRescue has evolved to include a broad spectrum of programmatic interventions for the community, pre-hospital and hospital domains, and in turn provides a menu of strategies to improve care. HeartRescue is not proscriptive but rather provides tools that meet communities on their terms. HeartRescue emphasizes high-yield, low-cost programs as a foundation for all communities. HeartRescue brings worldwide resuscitation leadership and vision to your community’s doorsteps with the goal to help improve survival in your community.

HeartRescue Global

Problem Statement: 

Acute CVD events, including out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) cause major burdens of mortality and morbidity in India, China, and Brazil.

Project Approach:

• Partner with local governments, hospitals, emergency medical service (EMS) agencies, other healthcare providers, and community stakeholders to develop integrated and sustainable acute CVD systems of care
• Utilize data feedback to healthcare providers to implement quality improvement programs for acute CVD care
• Develop acute CVD data registries linking community, EMS, and hospitals
• Conduct education and training programs for community members, emergency dispatchers/telecommunicators, EMS staff, and hospital staff
• Develop policy and legal reforms to promote improved community response for STEMI, CPR, and AEDs, and improved budgets for staff, equipment, and systems to diagnose and treat acute CVD

Targeted Results:

Improve access to quality care for people suffering from acute CVD by improving health system performance across a range of indicators, with the goal of reducing premature mortality for the underserved.