Governor Signs Bill Providing Emergency Cardiac Care Centers in GA

When you or someone you know has a heart attack in Georgia, treatment will soon be more efficient thanks to new legislation.  

On Tuesday, Gov. Nathan Deal, joined by members of the Georgia General Assembly, signed Senate Bill 102 at Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) in Gainesville.

The new law provides for the establishment of emergency cardiac care centers in Georgia and a three-level designation system for those centers – making Georgia one of only a few states in the nation to have these types of coordinated systems in place.

In signing the legislation into law, Deal said Northeast Georgia Medical Center is recognized as a leader in heart care for our state.

He said it only makes sense that NGMC has been a driving force in establishing designations for emergency cardiac care centers.

The emergency cardiac care centers and levels of designation will coordinate treatment among first responders, hospital emergency departments, cardiologists, heart surgeons and other care teams to help ensure patients are stabilized and transported to a hospital that can provide the level of care they need.

The law provides for three levels of designations for cardiac care centers, with high-level criteria that will be further defined by the Georgia Department of Public Health:

• Level 1 hospitals perform open heart surgery and interventional cardiac catheterizations.
• Level 2 hospitals perform interventional cardiac catheterizations.
• Level 3 hospitals stabilize patients until they are transported to a Level 1 or Level 2 center.

The law also creates a new Office of Cardiac Care within the DPH which will develop specific guidelines for oversight, implementation and operations for the designation system.