Mission Hospital receives “Get With the Guidelines-Stroke GOLD Plus” achievement award

November 4, 2014


Mission Hospital has received the Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke GOLD-Plus Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. The recognition demonstrates Mission Hospital’s commitment to quality care for stroke patients.  Mission Hospital also received the Target: Stroke Honor Roll recognition for meeting stroke quality measures that reduce the time between hospital arrival and treatment with the clot-buster tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.

“Here in western North Carolina, we live in the Stroke Belt. That means our community is at a higher risk and stroke remains the third most common cause of death and leading cause of disability among adults,” said Jonathan Bailey, Vice President of Operations for Mission Hospital. “Mission Health offers a carefully coordinated stroke recovery and prevention program to ensure that patients receive the latest evidence-based treatment. This recognition is a result of our commitment to our patients, and to our community.”

The Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program combines the expertise of the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping hospital care teams ensure that the care provided to stroke patients is aligned with the latest evidence-based guidelines. The quick and efficient use of guideline procedures improves the quality of care for stroke patients, saves lives and reduces healthcare costs by lowering the recurrence of strokes.

“We are pleased to recognize Mission Hospital for their commitment and dedication to stroke care,” said 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. “Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce patients’ length of stays and 30-day readmission rates and reduce disparity gaps in care.”

Mission Hospital has received this national recognition multiple times.  To see the full list of recognized hospitals nationwide or for more information about the Get With The Guidelines programs from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, visit www.heart.org./quality

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 the latest research-based guidelines.  Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 4 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org/quality or heart.org/myhealthcare.