Clinical InvestigationAcute Ischemic Heart DiseaseDe Facto regionalization of care for ST-elevation myocardial infarction in Florida, 2001-2009

ACC/AHA guidelines recommend STEMI patients receive percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) at high volume hospitals performing ≥400 procedures/year. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in the organization and implementation of care for STEMI patients in Florida. We assessed trends and predictors of STEMI patients first hospitalized at high PCI volume hospitals in Florida from 2001-2009. This is the first study to examine statewide trends in hospital admission for all STEMI patients.We classified Florida hospitals by PCI volume (high, medium, low, non-PCI) for each quarter from January, 2001 through June, 2009. Using hospital discharge data, we determined the percent of STEMI patients who went to each type of hospital and analyzed multiple predictors. From 2001-2009 the proportion of STEMI patients first hospitalized at high PCI volume hospitals rose from 62.4 to 89.7%, while admissions to non-PCI hospitals declined from 31% to 4.9%. Persistent barriers to high PCI volume hospital admission were age ≥85 years (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.50-0.62), female gender (OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.79-0.91), and residence in a major metropolitan county.Through the efforts of local coalitions throughout Florida, by 2009 almost 90% of Florida STEMI patients were first admitted to high PCI volume hospitals. Greater hospital competition may explain lower admission rates to high PCI volume hospitals in major metropolitan counties. The age and gender disadvantage we observed requires further research to determine potential causes.