Cost reductions associated with a quality improvement initiative for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction.

Background: Efforts to reduce door-to-balloon (DTB) times for patients presenting with an ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) are widespread. Reductions in DTB times have been shown to reduce short-term mortality and decrease inpatient length of stay (LOS) in these high-risk patients. However, there is a limited literature examining the effect that these quality improvement (QI) initiatives have on patient care costs.