CLEVELAND–Several hospitals in the University Hospitals (UH) system have been recognized by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Quality Achievement Awards for their quality stroke care. Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke awards were developed to help healthcare professionals provide the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines for treating stroke patients.

UH Cleveland Medical Center was the only hospital in Ohio for the second consecutive year to receive all four of the highest awards in 2021.

Fourteen UH hospitals earned awards for quality stroke care, with seven earning a higher level of recognition than the previous year:

Stroke Gold Plus and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus 

·         UH Cleveland Medical Center

·         UH Geauga Medical Center

·         Southwest General Hospital (a joint-venture hospital)

Stroke Gold Plus and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite

·         UH Ahuja Medical Center

·         UH Elyria Medical Center

·         UH Geneva Medical Center

·         UH Parma Medical Center

·         UH Portage Medical Center

·         UH St. John Medical Center

Stroke Gold Plus and Target: Stroke Honor Roll

·         UH Bedford and Richmond Medical Centers, (UH Regional Hospitals campuses)

·         Western Reserve Hospital  (a joint-venture hospital)

Stroke Silver Plus Award

·         UH Conneaut Medical Center  

Stroke Silver Award

·         UH Samaritan Medical Center

The American Heart Association awards recognize commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

The medical centers earned the Gold Plus award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for 24 consecutive months. 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.

Target: Stroke Honor Roll
As shown in the list above, 11 of the hospitals were placed on the Stroke Honor Roll. UH Cleveland, UH Geauga and Southwest achieved Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus; UH Ahuja, UH Elyria, UH Geneva, UH Parma, UH Portage and UH St. John achieved Stroke Honor Roll Elite; UH Regional Hospitals and Western Reserve received Stroke Honor Roll.

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. 

Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Nine of the hospitals received the Association’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed with more than 90 percent of compliance for 12 consecutive months for the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.” The hospitals recognized for this award were: UH Ahuja, UH Cleveland, UH Elyria, UH Geauga, UH Parma, UH Portage, UH Regional Hospitals, UH Samaritan, UH St. John, and Western Reserve. 

“We are pleased to recognize University Hospitals for their commitment to stroke care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, MD, 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, 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.

About Get With The Guidelines®

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 9 million patients since 2001. For more information, visitheart.org/quality.