Systems of Care Overview and Implementation Strategies

Why Mission: Lifeline^®?

To decrease the mortality and morbidity of the estimated 785,000 Americans who will have their first heart attack each year and the 470,000 Americans who will have a recurrent heart attack.
To collaboratively coordinate care among 911 dispatch, EMS, interfacility transport teams, and the destination hospitals
To aid in meeting AHA/TJC Primary Heart Attack and Acute Heart Attack Ready Certification Requirements
To Save Lives

Mission: Lifeline Systems of Care are:

A patient-centered, multidisciplinary team(s) focused on expediting appropriate emergency care for patients with STEMI and are:

Supported by AHA Quality Outcomes, Research and Analytics Staff
Improved through participation in Mission: Lifeline regional reports, powered by Get With The Guidelines - Coronary Artery Disease
Focused on evidence based guidelines for timely reperfusion
Regionally coordinated

Systems of Care principles can also be applied to other time-sensitive conditions such as stroke and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Mission: Lifeline Stages of STEMI Systems of Care Implementation

Mission Lifeline STEMI Systems of Care Pyramid

Conceptualization	Identify all contributors to the system of care Propose an implementation plan
Organization	Form a small executive task force Identify known gaps in STEMI care for the region Gain consensus for uniform data collection Plan implementation strategies and activities Set measurable goals
Implementation	Announce implementation plans, strategies, activities and goals Each STEMI Receiving Center, EMS agency and STEMI Referring Hospital surveys for their baseline state Identify areas requiring process change at the individual facility/agency level Implement process changes Share strategies Perform continuous evaluation of process improvement activities
Regionalization	Coordinate implementation strategies, activities and goals at a regional level Survey regional processes Convene stakeholders to adopt and implement like processes across the region Share data (anonymized or identified)
Optimization	Perform continuous evaluation of regional process improvement activities Re-survey regional processes

Although the stages of STEMI Systems of Care Implementation are shown as hierarchical, the process is always in a dynamic state and a system of care can therefore move up or down levels based upon the ever-changing state of each participant and overall landscape of the system of care.

Written by American Heart Association editorial staff and reviewed by science and medicine advisers. See our editorial policies and staff.

Last Reviewed: Jun 29, 2018