CMH’s Type-2 Diabetes Care Also Recognized by American Heart Association and American Stroke Association

Columbia Memorial Health has again been recognized for its outstanding stroke care program, receiving the American Heart Association (AHA)/American Stroke Association’s (ASA) Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. This year’s recognition marks the fifth consecutive year that CMH has earned the AHA/ASA’s top award for stroke care.

The AHA/ASA stroke award recognizes CMH’s excellence in providing stroke patients with the most appropriate treatment aligned with nationally recognized, evidenced based guidelines. The Gold Plus award, the highest level possible, is an advanced level of recognition acknowledging select hospitals for consistent high level performance across a broad range of stroke care quality measures.

In addition, CMH’s diabetes care program was recognized by being placed on the AHA’s Target: Type-2 Diabetes Honor Roll. This award honors hospitals engaging in advanced care for patients with heart failure and/or stroke and type 2 diabetes. Honor Roll hospitals must meet a series of very stringent, evidenced based care standards to be recognized.

Michael Weisberg, MD, Chief of Emergency Medicine at CMH, said: “Earning this award for the fifth straight year is a testament to the entire CMH care team’s commitment to excellence in patient care. Even amid the challenges of the pandemic, our team remained steadfast in ensuring stroke patients consistently received the very best, evidence-based care available. It sends a clear message to our community that they can rely on CMH when they need us most.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the fifth leading 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 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year nationally.

Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.