Reviewing Habersham Medical Center’s name in the “America’s Best Hospitals’ issue of U.S. News & World Report are Jerry Wise, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Janice McKenzie, Chief Clinical Officer (COO).
DEMOREST, GA — Habersham Medical Center has been recognized for implementing the latest research-based treatment guidelines for stroke patients through the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke quality improvement program. Habersham Medical Center, a Silver Plus level recipient, is among 915 hospitals receiving a Get With the Guidelines–Stroke award in 2014.
More than 1,700 hospitals received awards for their achievements in heart, stroke and resuscitation care. All recipients were featured in a special advertisement in the August issue of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals.”
Get With The Guidelines® is a hospital-based quality improvement program created to ensure hospitals consistently care for heart and stroke patients using the most up-to-date guidelines and recommendations.
“We are pleased to recognize Habersham Medical Center for their commitment and dedication to stroke care,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Executive Committee and Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Published scientific studies are providing us with more and more evidence that Get With The Guidelines works. Patients are getting the right care they need when they need it. That’s resulting in increased survival.”
With Get With the Guidelines–Stroke treatment guidelines, stroke patients are started on aggressive therapies and medications that can help improve patient care and outcomes. Hospitals must follow these measures at a set level for a designated period of time to be eligible for the achievement awards.
Habersham Medical Center also achieved the Target: Stroke Honor Roll for exceeding the standard of providing tPA for eligible Stroke patients to restore blood flow to the brain within 60 minutes of arriving at the hospital — critical to limiting stroke damage.
“We are proud that the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association has chosen the ‘America’s Best Hospitals’ issue of U.S. News & World Report to recognize Habersham Medical Center for our achievements in their quality improvement programs,” said Jerry Wise, CEO of Habersham Medeical Center. “Get With The Guidelines gives our healthcare team the tools to enhance the treatment and care of our patients.”
