UPMC Harrisburg’s Ongoing Success in Door-to-Balloon Performance for STEMI Patients

The UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute at UPMC Harrisburg continues to provide excellent care for heart attack patients, achieving consistent door-to-balloon (DTB) times of under 90 minutes, with an average of 77 minutes.

Timely activation of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains a critical determinant of outcomes in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). National guidelines recommend a DTB target of less than 90 minutes from emergency department (ED) arrival to device deployment. At UPMC Harrisburg, multidisciplinary collaboration has enabled reliable performance well within this benchmark.

A distinguished feature of the program is the integration of pre-hospital workflows. Performance tracking begins at EMS patient contact, rather than at ED arrival, reflecting early ECG acquisition, rapid STEMI identification, and pre-hospital cath lab activation.

According to Torrey Schmidt, DO, medical director of the Chest Pain Center at UPMC Harrisburg, continuous improvement is driven through monthly pre- and post-hospital team meetings involving EMS, the ED, cardiology, and the Chest Pain Committee. These meetings focus on case reviews, targeted education, and ways to improve collaboration between teams.

“Consistent outcomes in STEMI care depend on shared accountability across pre- and post-hospital teams,” says Dr. Schmidt. “Our ability to collaborate across disciplines and align our goals to standardize processes is central to our success.”

In recognition of this performance, UPMC Harrisburg received the American College of Cardiology NCDR Chest Pain-MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2025, reflecting consistent adherence to evidence-based metrics and superior outcomes for STEMI care.