Palmetto Health Richland recognized by American Heart Association and American Stroke Association
May 31, 2017
Palmetto Health Richland has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award with Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Elite Plus. Palmetto Health also received the Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Foundation’s secondary prevention guidelines for patients with heart failure.
To receive the Stroke Gold Plus 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 achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Quality measures to receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.
These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams follow the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.
“A stroke patient loses 1.9 million neurons each minute stroke treatment is delayed. This recognition further demonstrates our commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatments to patients quickly and safely,” said Anil Yallapragada, M.D., Palmetto Health Stroke Center medical director and a neurologist at Palmetto Health-USC Medical Group Neurology. “Palmetto Health continues to deliver the highest quality of excellent care in the acute treatment of stroke patients. The recognition from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke further reinforces our team’s hard work.”
Palmetto Health Richland also has met specific scientific guidelines as a Primary Stroke Center featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.
Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure is a quality improvement program that helps hospital teams follow the most up-to-date, research-based standards with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing hospital readmissions for heart failure patients. Launched in 2005, numerous published studies have demonstrated the program’s success in achieving patient outcome improvements, including reductions in 30-day readmissions.
“Palmetto Health is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our heart failure patients, and implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure program’s internationally respected guidelines helps us to accomplish this goal by tracking and measuring our success. The collaborative approach to caring for patients with heart failure at our Advanced Heart Health Center and inpatient accountable care unit has helped us to improve our outcomes and the quality of life for our patients,” said Barry Feldman, M.D., cardiologist, Palmetto Heart.
For more information about Palmetto Health, visit PalmettoHealth.org or call 803-296-CARE.
