July 27, 2019

St. Joseph Medical Center has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Silver 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.

St. Joseph Medical Center 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.

“St. Joseph Medical Center 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 Jodi Fincher, CEO. “This recognition shows our commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatments to patients quickly and safely. Patients can trust they are getting the stroke care they need.” As further evidence of the high-level of stroke care St. Joseph provides, it is also a Certified Primary Stroke Center through the Joint Commission.

St. Joseph Medical Center additionally received the association’s Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll 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. Joseph 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.”

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.

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.

Founded in 1874, St. Joseph Medical Center is a faith-based, 310-bed acute-care hospital serving Kansas City area communities. St. Joseph has grown to meet the community’s needs, becoming the first hospital in Kansas City to launch comprehensive senior care services and it is among an elite group of providers having earned the Gold-Plus Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for the treatment of stroke patients. Services offered include emergency care, cardiology, wound care, and orthopedics. St. Joseph Medical Center is a member of Prime Healthcare. For more information, visit stjosephkc.com.

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