Society of Chest Pain Centers

The Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care (previously the Society of Chest Pain Centers) (SCPC) is an international nonprofit organization committed to eradicating heart disease as the number one cause of death worldwide. In January 2016, the organization merged with the American College of Cardiology. The Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care focuses on transforming cardiovascular care by assisting facilities in their effort to create communities of excellence that bring together quality, cost and patient satisfaction. As the only cross-specialty organization, SCPC provides the support needed for individual hospitals and hospital systems to effectively bridge existing gaps in treatment by providing the tools, education and support necessary to successfully navigate the changing face of healthcare. It is headquartered in Dublin, Ohio. Through disease management and accreditation processes, SCPC is "Taking Science to the Bedside.”

The concept of creating a chest pain center (CPC) in every hospital was presented in the late 1980s as a strategy to significantly reduce heart attack deaths through the rapid treatment of patients with acute myocardial infarction. In 1981, the first CPC was started in the emergency room at St. Agnes HealthCare Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. This area of the emergency room was originally called the Chest Pain Emergency Room and later changed to Chest Pain Centers in Emergency Departments. By 1988, St. Agnes was able to track the creation of more than 2000 Chest Pain Centers in Emergency Departments throughout the United States.

In 1993, the First Congress of Chest Pain Centers was held in Savannah, Georgia.

In February 1997, Reader's Digest publishes the article, He Declared War on Heart Attacks on Early Heart Attack Care as championed by Dr. Raymond Bahr, a cardiologist at St. Agnes, in order to prevent untimely deaths by heart attacks.

In 1998, The Society of Chest Pain Centers was created as a new medical society in order to further develop CPCs and the mission was to reduce heart attack deaths by placing emphasis on Early Heart Attack Care (EHAC).

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