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A heart attack, "M.I.," or myocardial infarction occurs when an area of heart muscle dies or is permanently damaged because of an inadequate supply of oxygen to that area. Most heart attacks are caused by a clot that blocks one of the blood vessels that bring blood and oxygen to the heart muscle. About 1 million people visit a hospital with a heart attack each year.
Risk factors for heart attack include smoking, high blood pressure, dietary fat, high LDL cholesterol, age and heredity. Doctors recommend knowing the signs of a heart attack and waiting no more than five minutes before dialing "911" to get help.
- National Institutes of Health and American Heart Association
Heart failure, also called congestive heart failure, is a disorder in which the heart loses its ability to pump blood efficiently, and carry oxygen and nutrients to the body. The term "heart failure" should not be confused with cardiac arrest, a situation in which the heart actually stops beating. Heart failure is a serious disorder that carries a reduced life expectancy. The most common causes of heart failure are high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.
Many forms of heart failure can be controlled with medication, lifestyle change, and correction of any underlying disorder. Heart failure is usually a chronic illness, and it may worsen with infection or other physical stressors.
- National Institutes of Health
Acute-Care Hospitals: An acute-care hospital is a general hospital that provides short-term treat-ment in a community and gets payments from the federal Medicare program.
Critical Access Hospitals: Critical access hospitals are small, mostly rural facilities that are more than 35 miles away from another hospital (15 miles in areas with difficult roads), or are designated by their state government as being a necessary care provider. There are other requirements as well for hospitals to have a critical access designation. The designation makes hospitals eligible for special reimbursement arrangements from Medicare.
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
A median score is the middle score in a ranking. For example, if a community's median family income is $50,000, that means half the community's families earn more than $50,000 and half earn less.
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Click on the explanations of terms on the left that you might see while reading this report or searching the database.