to main content Acute Heart Attack Ready | The Joint Commission

Elevate Your Heart Attack Care

This certification program will standardize and improve coordinated systems of care across settings regarding identification, assessment, monitoring, management, data sharing, and performance improvement for multidisciplinary STEMI heart attack care.

Benefits

Certification from The Joint Commission offers many opportunities to build and grow an outstanding heart attack program to impact patient care.
  • Demonstrate commitment to a high standard of service
  • Provide a framework to improve patient outcomes
  • Helps to organize teams across the continuum of care
  • Gain a competitive edge in the market
  • Enhance staff recruitment and development
  • Be recognized by insurers and other third parties

What it Takes to be Certified

Key Characteristics of the Acute Heart Attack Ready (AHAR) Program:
  • Focus on symptom onset and first medical contact, emergency medical services, the emergency department, as well as catheterization laboratories (if applicable) and inpatient settings.
  • Recommended for organizations without on-site primary PCI coverage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. An AHAR hospital may transfer STEMI patients to a Primary Heart Attack Center or Comprehensive Heart Attack Center for care.

Collaborating with the American Heart Association

TJC and AHA Acute Heart Attack ReadyOffered in collaboration with the American Heart Association achieving certification means you’re dedicated to providing cardiac care to your community.  This patient-centric approach is better for your patients, their families and your program.

The American Heart Association recently published a policy statement, Systems of Care for ST-Segment-Elevation Myocardial Infarction. This statement sets forth recommendations for how the ideal STEMI system of care should be designed and implemented to ensure that patients with STEMI receive the best evidence-based care at each stage in their illness.