The Langhorne-based hospital has received ‘Get with the Guidelines’ Quality Achievement Awards and AHA Target: Stroke Elite Award
The Times
St. Mary Medical Center has earned the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association’s Get with the Guidelines — Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award and Get with the Guidelines — Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, respectively. Both awards recognize St. Mary’s commitment to ensuring heart failure and stroke patients receive the necessary treatment according to evidence based on national best practice standards and recommendations.
St. Mary earned the awards by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke and heart failure patients at a set level for a designated period. For heart failure patients, these measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and aggressive risk-reduction therapies. For stroke patients, treatments are aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability. Before discharge, patients receive education on managing their heart failure and overall health, have a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.
“We are committed to improving the quality of care and the lives of our patients with heart failure or stroke by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get with the Guidelines initiatives,” said Jim Woodward, president and CEO of St. Mary Medical Center. “The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”
In addition to the Get with the Guidelines awards, St. Mary received the American Heart 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 St. Mary Medical Center for their commitment to stroke care,” said Eric E. Smith, M.D., 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 often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”
According to the American Heart Association, more than 6.5 million adults in the United States are living with heart failure and stroke is the №5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the U.S. 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. Many heart failure patients can lead a full, enjoyable life when their condition is managed with proper medications or devices and with healthy lifestyle changes.
