Athens, Ga. (July 22, 2019) ― Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines^® Gold Plus Target: Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll Quality Achievement Award.

This award recognizes Piedmont Athens Regional’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

“Piedmont Athens Regional is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guideline’s initiatives,” said Michael Burnett, chief executive officer (CEO) of Piedmont Athens Regional. “The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to significantly improve outcomes for stroke patients in our hospital.”

Piedmont Athens Regional earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period.

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 stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

Piedmont Athens Regional also received the association’s Target: Stroke Elite Plus Award, which requires hospitals meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.

“We are pleased to recognize Piedmont Athens Regional for their commitment 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 fifth leading cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the United States suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.