Mercy Medical Center receives Get With The Guidelines Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award

Thursday, June 20, 2019

Tags: Mercy Medical Center , health care

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Mercy Medical Center has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

Mercy earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

“This recognition further demonstrates Mercy’s commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatments to patients quickly and safely,” said Paul C. Hiltz, president & CEO, Mercy Medical Center. “We continue to strive for excellence in the acute treatment of stroke patients.  This recognition from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association further reinforces our team’s hard work.”

Mercy Medical Center additionally received the association’s Target: Stroke Elite award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.

“We are pleased to recognize Mercy Medical Center for their commitment to stroke care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee and Executive Vice Chair of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”

Maria L. Griffin, nurse practitioner and Stroke coordinator at Mercy Medical Center says, “The Gold Plus quality achievement award demonstrates our commitment to providing quality stroke care and it exemplifies our goal of improving patient outcomes and reducing hospital readmissions for stroke-related complications.  She adds, “I am immensely proud of our staff members for their dedication to consistently deliver a high level of care based on the published guidelines.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.