NNMC Receives Five National Quality Awards From The American Heart Association®

Monday, August 31, 2020
NNMC Receives Four National Quality Awards From The American Heart Association®

Northern Nevada Medical Center (NNMC) has received the American Heart Association®/American Stroke Association’s® Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Silver Plus with Honor Roll Elite, Target: Type 2 Diabetes, Mission: Lifeline® STEMI Gold Receiving and Mission: Lifeline​ NSTEMI Silver quality achievement awards. The awards recognize the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke, cardiac and diabetic patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

"We are dedicated to improving the quality of care for our patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s guidelines for stroke, diabetes and cardiac care," said Helen Lidholm, CEO at Northern Nevada Medical Center. "The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes."

Learn more about care for Stroke, Diabetes, and Heart Attacks at NNMC →

NNMC earned the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Silver Plus award by 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 stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, have a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

NNMC also received the Association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must 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.

Additionally, the Sparks hospital received the Association’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed with more than 90 percent of compliance for 12 consecutive months for the "Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score."

Lastly, NNMC received dual awards, Mission: Lifeline STEMI Gold Receiving and Mission: Lifeline NSTEMI Silver Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association for the treatment of patients who suffer heart attacks. The program’s goal is to reduce system barriers to prompt treatment for heart attacks, beginning with the 9-1-1 call, to EMS transport and continuing through hospital treatment and discharge. NNMC earned the award by meeting specific criteria and standards of performance for the quick and appropriate treatment of NSTEMI heart attack patients by providing emergency procedures to re-establish blood flow to blocked arteries when needed.

"We are pleased to recognize NNMC for their commitment to stroke care," said Lee H. Schwamm, MD, 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 average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

About Get With The Guidelines

Get With The Guidelines is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with tools and resources to increase adherence to the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than nine million patients since 2001.

About Mission: Lifeline

The American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline program helps hospitals and emergency medical services develop systems of care that follow proven standards and procedures for STEMI patients. The program works by mobilizing teams across the continuum of care to implement American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Foundation clinical treatment guidelines.