- Written By:Alex Colley
St. Mary’s Medical Center has received both the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines®- Heart Failure Gold Plus and Stroke Gold Plus achievement awards. Both awards recognize St. Mary’s commitment to ensuring heart failure and stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines founded in the latest scientific evidence.
St. Mary’s Medical Center earned these awards by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure and stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications, aggressive risk-reduction therapies, and other treatments. Before discharge, patients also receive education on managing their overall health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.
Additionally, St. Mary’s has been recognized on the association’s Target: Heart FailureSM Honor Roll. Hospitals are required to meet specific criteria that improves medication adherence, provides early follow-up care and coordination and enhances patient education. The goal is to reduce hospital readmissions and help patients improve their quality of life in managing this chronic condition.
“We are pleased to recognize St. Mary’s Medical Center for their commitment to heart failure and 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.”