St. Joseph Health Regional Hospital Earns National Recognition for Cardiovascular, Stroke Care

Bryan, TX, June 5, 2017—CHI St. Joseph Health Regional Hospital has earned four national awards through the American Heart Association (AHA), American Stroke Association (ASA) and American College of Cardiology for Cardiovascular and Stroke Care. These awards demonstrate the commitment St. Joseph Health has in implementing a higher standard of care for stroke and heart attack patients treated at St. Joseph Health. It also signifies that St. Joseph Health offers patients the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, clinical guidelines and recommendations established by the latest scientific evidence. “This recognition demonstrates our commitment to always being at the forefront of cardiovascular care for our community, and providing the appropriate stroke and heart attack treatments for our patients,” said Ricardo Gutierrez, MD, medical director for cardiac services at St. Joseph Health. Among the awards the hospital received was the AHA Mission: Lifeline NSTEMI Bronze Achievement Award, the first time Regional achieved the designation. Designed to reduce hospital system barriers to prompt treatment for heart attacks – beginning with the 9-1-1 call through to hospital treatment, the Lifeline NSTEMI Bronze Achievement Award recognizes hospitals that have implemented specific quality improvement measures outlined by the AHA. The hospital also received the:

• ACTION Registry Gold Performance Achievement Award. This recognition is given for consistently following treatment guidelines for eight consecutive quarters, meeting a performance standard of 90 percent for specific performance measures;
• Get with the Guidelines^®-Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll^SM Elite. This award is given for achieving a consistently high level of observance with AHA/ASA quality measures for 24 consecutive months and meeting quality measures developed to reduce the time between a patient’s arrival at the hospital and their treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat stroke.The Gold Plus Achievement Award is the highest achievement level offered by AHA/ASA.
• AHA Mission: Lifeline STEMI Receiving Center – Bronze Plus. This recognizes treating more than 75% of heart attack transfer patients within 120 minutes of the onset of symptoms for at least one quarter and implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the AHA for patients who have suffered severe heart attacks.