Dive Brief:
- The New York Times has reported that incremental changes by emergency departments across the U.S. have led to a 38% drop in deaths from coronary heart disease from 2003 to 2013.
- Hospitals both rich and poor have streamlined their procedures, eliminating treatment disparities that previously tended to impact minorities and elderly patients.
- The report notes the changes occurred quietly and without any new medical discoveries, technologies or incentives.
Dive Insight:
According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the decline in coronary heart disease deaths is attributed to multiple factors including better control of cholesterol and blood pressure, less smoking, better treatment and faster care for those experiencing a heart attack.
"It may not be long before cardiovascular disease is no longer the leading cause of death" in the United States, Dr. Michael Lauer, director of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the NHLBI, told the New York Times.
The changes were reportedly driven by a campaign by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, and an analysis of the timesucks involved in getting treatment underway. Since then, hospitals have taken common-sense steps to speed up response times, such as having paramedics transmit electrocardiogram readings directly to EDs while en route and alerting medical personnel all at once.
Now, almost all hospitals are able to treat half their patients within 61 minutes, according to the American College of Cardiology. Similar lessons have been applied to stroke care.