Altru Health System has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes Altru’s commitment to excellence in care by ensuring stroke patients receive the highest level of treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
Altru earned this award by achieving and maintaining specific quality measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients. Assessed areas included 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 accelerating recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. In addition, before discharge, patients require education on managing their health, have a followup with primary and specialty care, as well as other care transition interventions.
“Altru is dedicated to providing the highest quality of care to every patient we care for. The American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative award represents an example of our unrelenting commitment to delivering world-class care to our communities and in this case our patient population with critical vascular disease,” said Steven Weiser MD, and President of Altru Health System. “The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve our patient’s recovery and quality of life after serious life health events.”
Altru received the American Heart Association’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes and Honor Roll Elite Award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet the quality measures developed with more than 90% of compliance for 12 consecutive months for the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.”
Altru has also met specific scientific guidelines as a Primary Stroke Center, featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.
“We are pleased to recognize Altru 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.”
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.
