Carondelet Neurological Institute Named to Elite-Plus Honor Roll
Mar 5, 2017The Carondelet Neurological Institute (CNI) at St. Joseph’s Hospital is among the first healthcare organizations in the U.S. to receive the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Target: Honor Roll-Elite Plus quality Achievement Award. The national recognition award for excellence in stroke care was presented at the recent International Stroke Conference in Nashville.
“This Elite-Plus Award is an acknowledgment of our tremendous commitment to go above and beyond to ensure patients receive the highest quality care based on nationally-respected clinical guidelines for the treatment of strokes,” stated Dr. L. Roderick Anderson, MD, medical director of the Stroke Program at Carondelet St. Joseph’s Hospital.
The Target: Stroke Elite Plus recognition level was developed in late 2014 to recognize hospitals whose quality of stroke care exceeded the highest national standards. One measurement used is how soon a stroke patient receives the FDA-approved clot-busting agent Tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA) after arriving at the hospital. tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability.
- 98% of stroke patients admitted to St. Joseph’s received tPA within 60 minutes after arrival
- 70% of stroke patients received it within 45 minutes or less
“Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce length of stay and 30-day readmission rates and reduce disparities in care,” added Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering committee and Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
According to the AHA/ASA, stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United
States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.