Bon Secours Richmond Health System's Hospitals Receive Quality Stroke Care AwardsNews

Richmond, Va. (June 20, 2018) – Bon Secours Richmond Health System announces that all of the hospitals in the greater Richmond region have received an award from the American Heart Association & American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA)’s prestigious Get With The Guidelines stroke improvement program. Get With The Guidelines recognizes a hospital’s commitment to ensuring that stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

Bon Secours Rappahannock General Hospital and Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital earned the Gold Plus and Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll award. Hospitals receiving the Gold Plus recognition have reached an aggressive goal of treating patients with 85 percent or higher compliance to core standard levels of care as outlined by the AHA/ASA for two consecutive years. In addition, those hospitals have demonstrated 75 percent compliance to four out of 10 heart failure quality measures or seven out of ten stroke quality measures during the 12-month period. The Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll includes hospitals achieving Time to Intravenous Thrombolytic Therapy in less than or at least 60 minutes in 75 percent or more of applicable acute ischemic stroke patients treated with IV tPA to improve quality of patient care and outcomes.

Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center received the Gold Plus and Target: Stroke Honor Roll award. In addition to the Gold Plus recognition described above, the Target: Stroke Honor Roll includes hospitals achieving Time to Intravenous Thrombolytic Therapy in less than or at least 60 minutes in 50 percent or more of applicable acute ischemic stroke patients to improve quality of patient care and outcomes.

Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center earned Silver Plus and Target: Stroke Honor Roll status. Hospitals receiving the Silver Plus recognition have reached an aggressive goal of treating patients with 85 percent or higher compliance to core standard levels of care as outlined by the AHA/ASA for one calendar year. In addition, those hospitals have demonstrated 75 percent compliance to four out of 10 heart failure quality measures or seven out of ten stroke quality measures during the 12-month period. The Target: Stroke Honor Roll is described above.

Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital received the Silver performance designation, indicating that it has reached an aggressive goal of treating patients with 85 percent or higher compliance to core standard levels of care as outlined by the AHA/ASA for one calendar year.

 “We are pleased to recognize all of these Bon Secours hospitals for their commitment to stroke care,” said Eric E. Smith, M.D., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and an associate professor of neurology at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. “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 AHA/ASA, 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.