Texas hospitals work to speed up their response times to heart attacks

Tarrant County, TX, hospitals are scrutinizing their cardiac care in an attempt to expedite the life-saving balloon angiopasty procedure. The goal is to get patients to a cardiac lab for balloon angioplasty quickly, with a "door-to-balloon time" of 90 minutes or less. In Tarrant County, hospitals' performance varies widely, with some reaching the goal less than two-thirds of the time. Baylor Grapevine has the best results, hitting the target for 97% of the 59 patients they treated for that condition, according to 2007 CMS data.