Urban and Rural Heart Attack Patients Fare Equally Well at the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital

[Northland Press, November 22, 2011] Heart attack patients who are transferred from rural hospitals do as well as patients who go directly to Abbott Northwestern for treatment, according to a study published in the November European Heart Journal.

“We found that an organized regional heart attack care system can eliminate disparities in treatment between patients who live in urban and rural areas,” said David Larson, MD, of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation and lead study author. Larson is also chair of Emergency Medicine and medical director of the Chest Pain Center at the Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia, Minn.