Each of Mercy Health — Cincinnati’s five hospitals have received Quality Achievement Awards in the area of Stroke care from the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® program. The awards recognize the hospitals’ commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

  • Mercy Health — Anderson Hospital, Mercy Health — Fairfield Hospital and Mercy Health — West Hospital each received the Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Award and joined the Honor Roll Elite
  • The Jewish Hospital — Mercy Health received the Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Award, the Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll Award and joined the Honor Roll
  • Mercy Health — Clermont Hospital received the Get With The Guidelines Stroke Silver Award

The hospitals earned the awards 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.

“Suffering a stroke is frightening but getting the right care and the right time can have a tremendous impact on your recovery time and quality of life afterward. The tools and resources we receive from the American Heart Association help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes,” said Dave Fikse, President, Mercy Health — Cincinnati.

“Mercy Health has dedicated itself to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients, with Anderson, Fairfield and West Hospitals and The Jewish Hospital earning advanced certification as primary stroke centers and Clermont Hospital and Harrison, Mt. Orab, Rookwood and Queen City Medical Centers earning Acute Stroke Ready Hospital certifications from the Joint Commission.

To qualify for the Stroke Honor Roll, Anderson, Fairfield and West Hospitals and The Jewish Hospital met quality measures that reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. 

The Jewish Hospital additionally received the Association’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, the hospital met quality measures developed with more than 90% of compliance for 12 consecutive months for the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.”

“We are pleased to recognize Mercy Health for its commitment to stroke care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, MD, 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.