Mission: Lifeline®  EMS

Participate in the Mission!
The American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline EMS program focuses on the quality of care and outcomes for prehospital stroke, heart attack and cardiac arrest patients by connecting all care components into a seamlessly integrated care system. Key tenets of these systems of care reinforce evidence-based guidelines and measure performance, identify gaps, and engage in quality improvement.


"Participating in the AHA Mission: Lifeline EMS Recognition program has been a validation of outcome-driven performance for our service."

Lee Turpen, NRP, CCEMT-P, Operations Manager, AMR Evansville

Why Participate?

Prehospital personnel are the first care providers for patients suffering from acute heart and stroke emergencies.  Your role in providing care based on guideline recommendations for these patients is crucial and often sets the course for the patient’s outcome. Prehospital agencies must prioritize and embrace a culture of quality improvement to identify opportunities to improve care and outcomes.

Ways to Participate

Measures

The American Heart Association EMS Performance Measures used for Mission: Lifeline EMS recognition are developed using National EMS Information System data values. 

 

2026 American Heart Association EMS Performance Measures

Quality Certification Tool (QCT)

The QCT portal is where your agency’s EMS data can be kept in one place. The portal will streamline the process so you can save your information, access your application, and retrieve your recognition kit.
QCT User Manual
New Agency Registration in QCT

Recognition

Mission: Lifeline EMS recognition is a program designed to showcase prehospital agencies nationwide for excellence in heart attack and stroke care.

The Target: Heart Attack System of Care and Target Stroke System of Care distinctions focus on coordinated systems of care between prehospital agencies and the destination hospital for STEMI and stroke. ​
Award Recognition Criteria

Application Types

Individual EMS Agency - Application for a single licensed agency submitting data.

EMS Medical Oversight Organization - Application for organizations that provide medical oversight submitting aggregate data for all licensed agencies.

State Office of EMS - Application for State Office of EMS submitting aggregate data for licensed agencies.

2025 Mission: Lifeline EMS Awards 

Each year EMS agencies from around the United States provide quality stroke, heart attack and cardiac arrest care to their patients. The agencies awarded each year meet or exceed a guideline-directed set of quality measures elevating the prehospital care to the communities they serve.   

View the Full List of Awardees

How it Works

Application Period

  • Closes May 31st at 11:59pm CT
  • Applications will be submitted via AHA’s Quality & Certification Tool (QCT) portal.
  • Optional Office Hours sessions are available for anyone needing support with Mission: Lifeline® EMS Recognition, including data submission, performance measures, data review, and related questions. To request a sessions, please email [email protected].

Prehospital Resources

Heart Attack

2025 Guideline for the Management of Patients with Acute Coronary Syndromes
Policy Statement: Systems of Care for STE-Segment-Elevation Myocardial Infarction
Systems for Care Overview and Implementation Strategies
Opportunities to Improve STEMI Systems of Care
Prehospital Activation of Hospital Resources (PreAct) ST-Segment-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI)

Stroke

Mission: Lifeline Stroke
Advance Stroke Life Support
Essential Stroke Life Support
Prehospital/EMS Consensus Recommendations
2026 Guideline for the Early Management of Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke

Cardiac Arrest

Nation of Lifesavers
CPR and ECC Guidelines
High-Quality CPR
ECC Digital Digest
Telecommunicator CPR (T-CPR)
Heartsaver Hero Award