Skip to main content

Regions, Methodist hospitals exceed national average for cardiac arrest response

Local door-to-balloon rates top national average


July 1, 2015


ST. PAUL, Minn. — July 1, 2015 — In cardiology, time is muscle. The faster a patient gets an artery reopened, the less the heart is damaged. Door-to-balloon rates measure the time a patient arrives at the hospital to when a doctor, using a balloon, is able to open patient’s vessel.

According to data presented in a recent New York Times article, the national door-to-balloon rate is about 61 minutes. At Regions Hospital, that number is 48 minutes and at Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital, the average is 42 minutes. And at both hospitals, procedure s are performed on more than 75 percent of patients in less than 60 minutes, a time much faster than the 90-minute benchmark recommended by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.

“This is something that hospitals have really worked to improve over the past eight years. Door-to-balloon rates have become a mark of excellence,” said Dr. Johannes Brechtken, of Regions Hospital.

The local success is credited in part to a highly-coordinated system. Emergency responders can perform an EKG in the field. If the results signify blockage, a “Field Activation” is called. In this case, the hospital is notified, employees are paged and a room is made ready for the patient’s arrival, shaving valuable time from the process.

A cardiologist and a recent heart attack patient are available for interviews upon request. Please contact Scott Beedy at 612-248-4622 for further questions or to set up an interview.

Regions Hospital

Regions Hospital is a Level I Trauma Center for adults and for children serving Minnesota and western Wisconsin for more than 140 years. A private, nonprofit, teaching hospital, Regions provides outstanding care in women’s health, heart, cancer, surgery, orthopaedics, neuroscience, burn, emergency care, mental illnesses and more. Regions is part of the HealthPartners family of health care companies that serves 1.5 million medical and dental health plan members nationwide. Follow Regions Hospital at twitter.com/RegionsHospital and Facebook.com/RegionsHospital.

About Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital

Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital is part of HealthPartners, the largest consumer-governed, nonprofit health care organization in the nation with a mission to improve health and well-being in partnership with members, patients and the community. Methodist Hospital joined HealthPartners in 2013, and is renowned for high-quality patient care, medical expertise and disease management. It is recognized as an area leader in cancer, cardiovascular and maternity care, and neuro-rehabilitation medicine, with experts who are highly trained to provide patients with personalized care and treatment. For more information, visit parknicollet.com.

Back to top