Premier Health Hospitals Recognized for Excellence in Stroke Treatment
American Heart Association Awards recognize commitment to quality stroke care
DAYTON, Ohio (June 19, 2017) – Stroke remains the top reason for disability in the United States and is the fourth leading cause of death. Treatments such as IV clot dissolving medications (tPA) and procedures to open blocked arteries – when provided as soon as possible after the start of stroke symptoms – have both been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability.
Premier Health’s Miami Valley Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital and Atrium Medical Center recently earned awards for providing the most appropriate stroke treatment in accordance with nationally recognized guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence, according to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
Through the Get With The Guidelines® program, Miami Valley Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton earned the Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke℠ Honor Roll Elite.
In addition, Atrium Medical Center in Middletown earned the Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke℠ Honor Roll.
To earn this award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight quality measures to receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.
To qualify for the Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite and the Target: Stroke Honor Roll, 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. If given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability. Miami Valley Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital and Atrium Medical Center earned these awards by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period.
These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams follow the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients, according to the associations.
“Time is of the essence when it comes to stroke response,” said Bryan Ludwig, MD, chair of the Premier Health Neuroscience Institute. “These awards demonstrate sustained quality and achievement by our highly trained, board certified professionals, who make use of advanced technology in the acute treatment of stroke across the Premier Health system.”
Miami Valley Hospital is the first and only hospital in the Dayton region to achieve certification as a Comprehensive Stroke Center by The Joint Commission and American Heart/American Stroke Association. Good Samaritan Hospital and Atrium Medical Center are both certified as Advanced Primary Stroke Centers by The Joint Commission and American Heart/American Stroke Association. Premier Health’s Upper Valley Medical Center and Miami Valley Hospital South are certified as Acute Stroke Ready Hospitals by The Joint Commission and American Heart/American Stroke Association.
“The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association recognize Premier Health for its commitment to stroke care,” said Paul Heidenreich, MD, MS, national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and professor of medicine at Stanford University. “Research has shown there are benefits to patients who are treated at hospitals that have adopted the Get With The Guidelines program.”
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