News

Awards and Accreditations

BMC Earns 8th Straight Stroke Honor
November 9, 2011 For Immediate Release Berkshire Medical Center receives 8th Get With The Guidelines Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award: Award demonstrates BMC’s commitment to quality care for stroke patients PITTSFIELD, MA -- Berkshire Medical Center has for the 8th straight year received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes BMC’s commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients, according to evidence-based guidelines. BMC was the first hospital in the US to receive the Performance Achievement Award for Stroke from the American Heart Association. BMC is a national leader in the Get With the Guidelines program. In addition to the Stroke honor, BMC has achieved ten consecutive awards for the treatment of patients with Coronary Artery Disease and six consecutive awards for the treatment of Heart Failure. To receive the award, BMC achieved 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Performance Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with five of nine Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures to improve the quality of patient care and outcomes. These measures include aggressive use of medications, such as tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients. “For the past several years, our comprehensive Stroke Team, which starts in the BMC Emergency Department, continues in the Stroke Unit and through Rehabilitation, has focused on continually improving the quality of stroke care through Get With The Guidelines. The number of acute ischemic stroke patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing stroke incidence and a large aging population,” said Dr. Gray Ellrodt, Chief Quality Officer for BMC and Chairman of the Department of Medicine. “With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award demonstrates BMC’s commitment to being one of the top hospitals in the country for providing aggressive, proven stroke care.” “Berkshire Medical Center is to be commended for its commitment to implementing standards of care and protocols for treating stroke patients,” said Lee H. Schwamm, MD, chair of the Get With The Guidelines National Steering Committee and director of Tele-Stroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “The full implementation of acute care and secondary prevention recommendations and guidelines is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of stroke patients.” Get With The Guidelines–Stroke uses the “teachable moment,” the time soon after a patient has had a stroke, when they are most likely to listen to and follow their healthcare professionals’ guidance. Studies demonstrate that patients who are taught how to manage their risk factors while still in the hospital reduce their risk of a second heart attack or stroke. Through Get With The Guidelines–Stroke, customized patient education materials are made available at the point of discharge, based on patients’ individual risk profiles. The take-away materials are written in an easy-to-understand format and are available in English and Spanish. In addition, the Get With The Guidelines Patient Management Tool gives healthcare providers access to up-to-date cardiovascular and stroke science at the point of care. According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of serious, long-term disability. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 45 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every three minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year. For more information on Get With The Guidelines, visit www.americanheart.org/getwiththeguidelines.