Office of Cardiac Care

Cardiovascular disease is responsible for over 800,000 deaths each year in the U.S., or about one in three deaths, according to the American Heart Association. Each day, 2,300 Americans die from cardiovascular disease. To improve these outcomes and reduce the death burden from cardiovascular disease and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in Georgia, legislation was signed into law in 2017 establishing of the Office of Cardiac Care within the Georgia Department of Public Health.   

The Mission of the Office of Cardiac Care is to improve survival rates in Georgia from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) and heart attacks (STEMI) through quality improvement, benchmarking and evidence-based guidelines, supported by standardized data collection and reporting system. The foundation for the evaluation of the Emergency Cardiac Care System in Georgia is the establishment and maintenance of the cardiac registry. They will accomplish this by:

• Assigning designated levels to Emergency Cardiac Care Centers (Level I, II, III) for hospitals complying with Emergency Cardiac Care Center criteria for awareness among the public and EMS.
• Establishing protocols for EMS to diagnose, triage, and transport cardiac patients to an appropriate cardiac resource hospital. 
• Requiring all cardiac-designated hospitals at each level to submit heart attack (STEMI) and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest data to the Georgia Cardiac Registry (GCaR) data reporting system.
• Providing data to help measure performance and improve outcomes.

​Benefits of the Emergency Cardiac Care Center Designation

EMS will know what cardiac resources hospitals have, and they will be able to get patients to the right treatment in time. 

Hospitals will:

• Strengthen Georgia’s Emergency Medical Services system.
• Ensure cardiac patients get the proper treatment that they need.
• Save lives, reduce disability, and improve quality of life.

The community will:

• Have a designated Emergency Cardiac Care Center nearby. 
• Have peace of mind knowing that if they go to the hospital, they’ll receive the correct treatment. In some cases, that will involve transferring patients to higher-level care. In other cases, EMS will take patients directly to another hospital.

Georgia Cardiac Registry (GCaR) FAQ's

What is the Georgia Cardiac Registry (GCaR)?

In 2017, Senate Bill 102 was signed into law to improve outcomes and reduce the death rate from cardiovascular disease, STEMI and OHCA in the State of Georgia. This law provided for the establishment of the Office of Cardiac Care within the Georgia Department of Public Health. The 2017 legislation, codified in O.C.G.A. § 31-11-130 et seq., charged the Office of Cardiac Care with designating hospitals as Emergency Cardiac Care Centers (ECCC) and establishing a reporting system called Georgia Cardiac Registry (GCaR) for the collection of OHCA and STEMI data.

How does a hospital participate in the GCaR?

The Office of Cardiac Care asks that each ECCC establish a designated point of contact who will access the GCaR portal to enter the required registry data. Once a designated contact(s) has been established, the state cardiac registrar will schedule an online tutorial of the data entry process as well as provide the contact person(s) with an individual username and password for access to the GCaR portal.

What data will need to be submitted to GCaR?

ECCCs will be required to submit the following data to GCaR:

• Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) outcome data
• STEMI data – ECCCs will submit STEMI data manually or via direct entry

Will the data submitted to the registry be kept confidential?

All information reported to GCaR will be kept confidential and will not be released except in de-identified form or for research purposes determined by the Georgia department of public health to have scientific merit. The Office of Cardiac Care will not release any information that may lead to the identification of any hospital. (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 511-9-2-.05.)

How do I obtain more information about the Office of Cardiac Care?

Please contact the Office of Cardiac Care with any questions at [email protected]

Page last updated 11/8/2023