NEWBURGH – Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence. This is the ninth consecutive year that MSLC has received the Gold Plus Award, having first achieved this recognition in 2010, and previously received the Silver Plus award in 2009 as well.
MSLC earned the award 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
“This is a testament to the great work done by our entire team, including the Emergency Department, neurologists, medical physicians and support services such as laboratory, nursing, radiology and rehabilitation,” said President and CEO Joan Cusack-McGuirk. “Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall takes great pride in our dedication to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative. The tools and resources provided allow us to track and measure our success in meeting evidence-based clinical guidelines that have been developed to improve patient outcomes.”
“We are pleased to recognize Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall for their commitment to stroke care,” said Lee 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.
