Mission Hospital receives "Get With the Guidelines-Stroke GOLD Plus" and "Stroke Elite Plus" awards

Mission Hospital has received the Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke GOLD-Plus Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. The recognition demonstrates Mission Hospital’s commitment to quality care for stroke patients. Mission Hospital also received the Elite Plus Target Stroke Honor Roll recognition (highest level of achievement in stroke) for meeting stroke quality measures that reduce the time between hospital arrival and treatment with the clot-buster tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.

“In western North Carolina, we live in a part of the county referred to as the Stroke Belt. That means our community is at a higher risk for stroke and it remains the fourth most common cause of death and leading cause of disability among adults,” said Jonathan Bailey, Vice President of Operations for Mission Health. “Mission Health carefully coordinates our stroke care through a team that is focused on prevention, recognition, acute intervention and recovery. This recognition of our stroke program is a result of our commitment to our patients and to our community.”

The Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program combines the expertise of the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping hospital care teams ensure that the care provided to stroke patients is aligned with the latest evidence-based guidelines. The quick and efficient use of guideline procedures improves the quality of care for stroke patients, saves lives and reduces healthcare costs by lowering the recurrence of strokes.

“We are pleased to recognize Mission Hospital for their commitment and dedication to stroke care,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering committee and Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce patients’ length of stays and 30-day readmission rates and reduce disparity gaps in care.”

Mission Hospital has received Get With The Guidelines-Stroke GOLD Plus Achievement Award multiple times and is one of only four hospitals in North Carolina to receive this recognition. To see the full list of recognized hospitals nationwide or for more information about the Get With The Guidelines programs from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, visit www.heart.org/quality. For more information on the stroke program at Mission Hospital, please visit www.mission-health.org/stroke.