Coliseum Medical Centers has received the 2017 American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target Stroke Honor Roll. Coliseum Medical Centers has received the Gold Plus Award for eight years in a row, but this is the first year that they have received the “Target Stroke Honor Roll”. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment and success in ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
 
To receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement 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 achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures. In order to receive Target Stroke Honor Roll, hospitals must administer the “clot-busting” drug in at least 50% of the stroke population in less than 60 minutes.
 
These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. They focus on appropriate use of evidence-based care for stroke patients, including aggressive use of medications such as clot-busting and anti-clotting drugs, blood thinners and cholesterol-reducing drugs, preventive action for deep vein thrombosis, smoking cessation counseling, and rehabilitation efforts.
 
Stephen J. Daugherty, Chief Executive Officer at Coliseum Medical Centers, said, “We continue to strive for excellence in the acute treatment of stroke patients. This recognition from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association further reinforces our team’s hard work.”
 
“The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association recognize Coliseum Medical Centers for its commitment to stroke care,” said Paul Heidenreich, M.D., M.S., 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.”