LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Four hospitals within the Baptist Health system were recently honored by the American Heart Association for their commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment based on nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.
Baptist Health’s facilities in Little Rock, Fort Smith, Conway and Arkadelphia were recognized during a luncheon Friday, June 7, at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock.
Receiving the agency’s Get with the Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Award were Baptist Health-Fort Smith, Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway and Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock. Baptist Health Medical Center-Arkadelphia was honored with the Get with the Guidelines®-Stroke Silver Award.
Hospitals must achieve at least 85% adherence to all Get With the Guidelines®-Stroke achievement measures to receive Silver (one calendar year) or Gold (two or more consecutive calendar years) status, according to the AHA. To add the Plus designation, hospitals must also achieve at least 75% adherence with five or more Get With the Guidelines®-Stroke quality measures.
In addition to those awards, Baptist Health’s hospital in Little Rock was named to the Target: StrokeSM Elite Plus Honor Roll for its focus on improving acute ischemic stroke care. The designation applies to facilities that have at least 75% of eligible patients treated with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, within 60 minutes of hospital arrival, and at least 50% treated within 45 minutes.
Baptist Health-Fort Smith, Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway and Baptist Health Medical Center-Arkadelphia were named to the Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll for having at least 50% of eligible patients treated within 60 minutes of hospital arrival.
During the luncheon, Baptist Health-Fort Smith also earned a Level 3 Award from the Arkansas Department of Health for its participation in the Arkansas Stroke Registry, a quality improvement program.
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.
About Baptist Health
Baptist Health is an Arkansas-based, locally owned and managed, not-for-profit, and faith-based health care organization. Baptist Health is also Arkansas’ most comprehensive health care organization with more than 200 access points and approximately 11,000 employees operating 11 hospitals. For more information about Baptist Health, visit baptist-health.com or call Baptist Health HealthLine at 1-888-BAPTIST. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
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 6 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.