The primary stroke centers at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton and Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica are continuing to ensure top-rate care to stroke patients, according to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

The Carrollton facility earned the Get With The Guidelines Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award for stroke care from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, while the Villa Rica hospital earned the Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for stroke care.

The awards designate the facilities’ performance in meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients. Those 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. It also measures whether or not patients also receive education on managing their health, getting a follow-up visit scheduled and other care transition interventions before discharge from the hospital.

The silver award confers acknowledgement for 12 consecutive months of demonstrated stroke care performance, while the gold award recognizes stroke care performance of 24 consecutive months or longer.

“Tanner’s hospitals are dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines stroke initiative,” said Anna Katema, DO, a neurologist and medical director of Tanner’s stroke care program. “These quality-based awards attest to our commitment in measuring success by meeting evidence-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”

Stroke is a major cause of death and disability among Americans. According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability throughout 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.

“We are pleased to recognize Tanner’s commitment to stroke care,” said Eric Smith, MD, national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and an associate professor of neurology at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. “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.”

Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton and Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica each hold an Advanced Certification for Primary Stroke Centers designation from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association and The Joint Commission. Higgins General Hospital in Bremen holds a designation in Advanced Disease-specific Care Certification for Acute Stroke Ready Hospitals — a similar designation delegated to critical access hospitals. It is the only critical access hospital in Georgia with that designation.

For more information about Tanner Health System’s stroke care program, visit www.tanner.org/stroke.

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