Skip to Main Content

Dignity Health Hospitals receive Get with the Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Awards

American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Award recognizes five local Dignity Health hospitals for their commitment to quality stroke care
Sacramento, May 25, 2018 - Dignity Health Mercy General Hospital, Dignity Health Mercy Hospital of Folsom, Dignity Health Mercy San Juan Medical Center, Dignity Health Methodist Hospital of Sacramento and Dignity Health Woodland Memorial Hospital have received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospitals’ commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

The hospitals, all part of the Dignity Health Neurological Institute of Northern California, 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.

“The Dignity Health Neurological Institute is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative,” said Lucian Maidan, MD, medical director, neurovascular medicine at the Dignity Health Neurological Institute. “The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidence-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.” 

Mercy General Hospital, Mercy Hospital of Folsom, Mercy San Juan Medical Center, Methodist Hospital of Sacramento and Woodland Memorial Hospital additionally received the association’s Target: Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll 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 these hospitals for their commitment to stroke care,” said Eric E. Smith, MD, national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and an associate professor of neurology at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. “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.”

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.

About Dignity Health Neurological Institute 
The Dignity Health Neurological Institute of Northern California (DHNI) was established in 2008 to create a Center of Excellence in neurological care. Its mission is to diagnose and treat the most complex diseases affecting the brain and spine. Specialties include stroke, neurosurgery, neurointerventional radiology, neurovascular disease, neurocritical care, telemedicine, neuropsychology, acute rehabilitation, movement disorders, neuromuscular disorders, multiple sclerosis, spine pain and trauma, sleep disorders, headache and epilepsy. DHNI is the largest neurovascular services provider in the Sacramento region, serving the region at six acute care hospital sites, including Mercy General Hospital, Mercy San Juan Medical Center, Mercy Hospital of Folsom, Methodist Hospital, Woodland Memorial Hospital and Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital. All of these inpatient sites have been designated as Primary Stroke Centers by The Joint Commission. Mercy San Juan Medical Center is Joint Commission Certified as a Comprehensive Stroke Center. For more information, please go to  DignityHealth.org/Sacramento/services/neurological-care

About Get With The Guidelines®
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with tools and resources to increase adherence to the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 6 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.
 

Publish date: 

Friday, May 25, 2018

For Media and Press Related Inquiries


Media Contact: 

Lindsay Leszczynski 
External Communications Manager
[email protected]