If you’re experiencing signs and symptoms of a heart attack, call 911 immediately.
Cardiovascular diseases claim more lives each year than all forms of cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease combined, according to the American Heart Association. Texas Health is committed to providing quality heart attack care in the communities we serve. This means meeting stringent standards and following strict guidelines established by organizations like the American Heart Association and The Joint Commission to improve quality of care and outcomes in heart attack patients. It also means effective and constant communication in the field with first responders to achieve accurate heart attack diagnoses and being prepared for patients even before they enter through our hospital doors.
Recognition for Quality Heart Attack Care
Key characteristics of the Primary Heart Attack Center Program include:
- Focusing on symptom onset and first medical contact (pre-hospital and upon arrival), emergency medical services, catheterization laboratories and inpatient settings
- Providing continuous on-site PCI coverage for STEMI patients
- Keeping door-to-balloon (D2B) times within 90 minutes or less, per guidelines from the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association
Texas Health Dallas has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® and the American Heart Association’s Heart-Check mark for Comprehensive Heart Attack Center Certification and was the first facility in Texas and the fourth hospital in the nation to receive this level of certification.
Key characteristics of the Comprehensive Heart Attack Center Program include:
- Meeting several performance measures, including administering an electrocardiogram within 10 minutes of a patient’s arrival. The non-invasive diagnostic test evaluates the heart's electrical system to check for disease
- Providing continuous on-site PPCI coverage, along with offering a multidisciplinary approach to treating critically ill patients (i.e., patients suffering from cardiogenic shock and cardiac arrest)
- Keeping door-to-balloon (D2B) times within 90 minutes or less, per guidelines from the American College of Cardiology
The door-to-balloon time references the critical moments between a patient’s arrival at the hospital to when they undergo a PCI procedure in the cardiac catheterization lab and blood flow is restored to the patient’s heart when a tiny balloon on the end of the catheter is inflated, pushing open the clogged artery.
Comprehensive Heart Attack Centers
Primary Heart Attack Centers
Acute Heart Attack Ready
Learn more about these Joint Commission program certifications here.
Many Texas Health hospitals and joint ventures have also been recognized by the American Heart Association for their advanced care of heart attack patients. The awards for heart attack care are based on participation and achievement in the Mission: Lifeline program (subcategorized by STEMI and NSTEMI). STEMI stands for ST elevation myocardial infarction, a lethal type of heart attack that involves full blockage of the coronary artery. NSTEMI is a non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction, which is normally less damaging to the heart and is a partial blockage of the coronary artery or blockage of a minor heart blood vessel. The AHA awards recognize the Texas Health facilities for their commitment to heart attack treatment guidelines and quality improvement.
Receiving centers – those higher-level hospitals providing specialized care.
Referring centers: Facilities capable of stabilizing and transferring cardiovascular patients.
2025 Get With The Guidelines Coronary Artery Disease – STEMI Recognition
- Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital — Referring Silver Plus
- Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Alliance — Receiving Gold
- Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth — Receiving Gold Plus
- Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Hurst-Euless-Bedford — Receiving Bronze
- Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest Fort Worth — Receiving Bronze Plus
- Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Stephenville — Referring Bronze
- Texas Health Heart & Vascular Hospital Arlington* — Receiving Gold Plus
- Texas Health Hospital Frisco* — Receiving Gold
- Texas Health Hospital Mansfield* — Receiving Silver
- Texas Health Huguley Hospital Fort Worth South* — Receiving Gold Plus
- Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Allen — Receiving Gold Plus
- Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas — Receiving Silver Plus
- Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Denton — Receiving Gold Plus
- Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Flower Mound* — Referring Bronze
- Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano — Receiving Gold Plus
2025 Get With The Guidelines Coronary Artery Disease – NSTEMI Recognition
- Texas Health Allen — Silver
- Texas Health Alliance — Gold
- Texas Health Arlington Memorial — Silver
- Texas Health Cleburne — Bronze
- Texas Health Dallas — Gold
- Texas Health Denton — Gold
- Texas Health Fort Worth — Gold
- Texas Health Flower Mound — Silver
- Texas Health Frisco — Silver
- Texas Health Heart & Vascular Arlington — Gold
- Texas Health HEB — Gold
- Texas Health Huguley — Gold
- Texas Health Plano — Gold
- Texas Health Southwest — Gold
- Texas Health Stephenville — Bronze
2025 Get With The Guidelines Rural Coronary Artery Disease Recognition
- Texas Health Cleburne — NSTE-ACS Gold
- Texas Health Stephenville — STEMI Gold and NSTE-ACS Silver
* Joint Venture