NEW ORLEANS ― Six Ochsner Heath owned and affiliated hospitals have received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospitals’ commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
GWTG Stroke Award Gold Plus recipients:
- Ochsner Medical Center – New Orleans
- Ochsner Medical Center – Kenner
- Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport
- Slidell Memorial Hospital (partner facility)
- St. Charles Parish Hospital
- St. Tammany Parish Hospital (partner facility)
The awards were earned 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.
“Ochsner Health and its Neuroscience Institute are 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 Richard Zweifler, MD, vascular neurologist and Ochsner Health system chair of neurology. “The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”
Ochsner facilities also received additional recognition from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. They include:
GWTG Stroke Award Silver Plus
- Ochsner Medical Center – Northshore
- Ochsner Baptist – A Campus of Ochsner Medical Center
GWTG Stroke Award Bronze/Silver
- Ochsner Medical Center- Baton Rouge
Ochsner Medical Center – New Orleans additionally received the Association’s Target StrokeSM Elite Honor Roll 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. The hospital also meets specific scientific guidelines as a Comprehensive Stroke Center—one of only three in Louisiana—featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.
Ochsner Medical Center – Kenner and Slidell Memorial Hospital additionally received the Association’s Target Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed with more than 90% of compliance for 12 consecutive months for the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.”
“We are pleased to recognize these Ochsner Health hospitals 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.
The Ochsner Neuroscience Institute’s award-winning quality includes being ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the one of the nation’s top 50 neurology and neurosurgery specialties for nine straight years. It is also a recipient of the Healthgrades Neurosciences Excellence Award and named among the top five percent in the nation for Neurosciences. Additional accolades are: Top 100 Hospitals and Health Systems with Great Neurosurgery and Spine Programs by Becker’s Hospital Review and a past recipient of the Healthgrades Cranial Neurosurgery Excellence Award and named among the top five percent in the nation for cranial neurosurgery.
For more information about Ochsner’s award-winning neurology care, or to make an appointment, please visit www.ochsner.org/neurosciences.
