Three LifeBridge Health Hospitals Each Receive Two American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Recognitions for Stroke Care
Baltimore, MD - Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Northwest Hospital and Carroll Hospital, all part of the LifeBridge Health system, have each received two awards from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Get With The Guidelines® Target Stroke Quality Achievement Awards.
As part of the association's Get with the Guidelines initiative, these awards recognize each 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. 
Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital and Carroll Hospital each earned the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for 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 patients with stroke. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, have a follow-up visit scheduled, and receive other care transition interventions.
"We are proud to achieve these recognitions from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association, which reflect the talent, experience and dedication of our stroke teams to provide quality care to our patients," said Russell Starkey, director of the Sandra and Malcolm Berman Brain & Spine Institute at LifeBridge Health.
Each of the LifeBridge Health hospitals also received additional recognition in the association's Target: StrokeSM awards. To qualify for these recognitions, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between a patient's arrival at the hospital and their treatment with the clot-busting tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.
Sinai received Target: StrokeSM Elite Plus, Northwest received Target: StrokeSM Elite and Carroll received Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll
"We are pleased to recognize three hospitals in one healthcare system, Sinai, Northwest and Carroll hospitals, for their commitments 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 the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On avera