San Jose, CA (July 2, 2019) Good Samaritan Hospital has been honored with the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s highest recognition for stroke care with the Get With The Guidelines® Target Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus and Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The awards recognize 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.
“Good Samaritan’s physicians and caregivers have been at the forefront of providing high-quality stroke care to patients for decades having been the first community hospital in California to provide tPA for the treatment of stroke,” said Joe DeSchryver, chief executive officer of Good Samaritan Hospital. “Our stroke team serves our community at the highest level and this achievement acknowledges that Good Samaritan is one of the best hospitals in the Bay Area for the treatment of stroke.”
Good Samaritan received this distinction 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.
“The excellent outcomes associated with Good Samaritan’s stroke program are the result of the highly experienced and dedicated stroke team we have here at our hospital,” said Harmeet Sachdev, MD, neurologist and medical director of Good Samaritan’s stroke program. “We continue to look for ways to intervene more quickly and efficiently with regard to treating stroke as time is critically important to the long-term prognosis our patients.”
Good Samaritan Hospital additionally received the association’s Target StrokeSM Elite Plus award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to 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 currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.
“We are pleased to recognize San Jose’s Good Samaritan Hospital for their commitment to 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.”
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is ranked as the fifth leading cause of death and the number one 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.
About Good Samaritan Hospital
Good Samaritan Hospital, a 474-bed acute care hospital in the heart of Silicon Valley, has been delivering top quality care since 1965. Its two locations include the main campus in San Jose, California and the Mission Oaks campus in Los Gatos, California. Good Samaritan Hospital is recognized as a leader in neurosciences, high risk obstetrics, comprehensive cancer services, advanced cardiology and innovative surgery techniques. The hospital, which is part of HCA Healthcare’s Far West Division, has a Level III NICU and is recognized nationally for quality and safety by The Joint Commission as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures® and with the Gold Seal of Approval® for Sepsis Certification, and for Hip and Knee Joint Replacement Certification. Good Samaritan Hospital is a Joint Commission-certified Comprehensive Stroke Center, STEMI Receiving Center, and a six-time recipient of the American College of Surgeons Outstanding Achievement Award in cancer care.
About Get With The Guidelines®
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with tools and resources to increase adherence to the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, complying with the Get With The Guidelines standards of care has touched the lives of more than 6 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.