American Heart Association Launches National Initiative to Improve Pulmonary Embolism Care

Pulmonary embolism, a type of blood clot in the lungs, sends more than half a million people to U.S. hospitals each year and kills approximately one in five high-risk patients according to the American Heart Association's 2025 statistical update. As the third leading cause of cardiovascular death in the United States, pulmonary embolism remains underdiagnosed, undertreated and inconsistently managed despite medical advances.

To address these critical care gaps, the American Heart Association is launching a three-year quality improvement initiative supported by Inari, now part of Stryker. The Pulmonary Embolism Quality Improvement Initiative will convene a 20-site national learning collaborative representing urban, rural and under-resourced communities. These diverse care teams will share data, insights and experiences through an "all teach, all learn" approach aimed at improving health outcomes and reducing disparities across systems of care.

"This initiative aims to support the ongoing mission of improving PE care by formally examining the barriers to implementation that hospitals face in the real world," said Jay Giri, M.D., MPH, American Heart Association volunteer and lead author of the American Heart Association's scientific statement on interventional therapies for acute pulmonary embolism. "By applying the specific lens of implementation science, we hope to generate new insights on overcoming system-level challenges to PE care."

The new initiative has three primary objectives: identifying knowledge and practice gaps in PE care, developing solutions to known and unknown barriers, and disseminating key insights to inform and support scalable, evidence-based PE care pathways. The findings will be made publicly available to help the entire pulmonary embolism community accelerate their work.

Pulmonary embolism is a type of venous thromboembolism, occurring when a blood clot breaks free, usually from a deep vein in the legs, and becomes lodged in the vessels supplying the lungs. This potentially life-threatening condition contributes to up to 100,000 deaths each year in the United States. From 2008 to 2018, PE-related mortality rates increased, underscoring the urgency of intervention.

"We're proud to support the American Heart Association on this important initiative," said Tim Lanier, president, Stryker, Inari Division. "By supporting the Association's investment in scalable, evidence-based solutions, we can help ensure more patients have access to the best possible treatment regardless of where they live."

The initiative's focus on implementation science represents a significant advancement in addressing systemic healthcare challenges. By examining real-world barriers across diverse healthcare settings, the program aims to develop practical solutions that can be implemented nationwide. The collaborative approach brings together healthcare professionals from various backgrounds to share best practices and develop standardized care protocols.

For patients and healthcare providers, this initiative promises to address critical gaps in pulmonary embolism management that have persisted despite medical advancements. The program's emphasis on equitable care across different community types ensures that improvements will benefit patients regardless of their geographic location or socioeconomic status. Learn more at https://heart.org/PEQualityImprovement.