FSR Receives National Recognition in Stroke, Cardiac Care

Fort Sanders Regional Receives National Recognition in Stroke, Cardiac Care

Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center has received multiple national quality achievement awards from the American Heart Association, placing Fort Sanders Regional in an elite group of providers focused on complex and highly specialized stroke and cardiac care. The awards include Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll Award; the Mission: Lifeline Receiving Gold Plus Award; and Mission: Lifeline NSTEMI Bronze achievement.

The Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Elite Plus award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet stringent 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.

In receiving the stroke achievement awards, Fort Sanders Regional met specific achievement measures with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. The hospital received the Gold Plus award by achieving 24 consecutive months’ performance at 85% of these achievement measures and 75% or greater on at least five of the program’s eight stroke quality measures. To receive the association’s Target: stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll award, Fort Sanders Regional achieved a time to intravenous stroke therapy within 60 minutes in 75% or more of acute ischemic stroke patients treated intravenously and 50% or more treated within 45 minutes, placing the hospital in the top echelons of stroke centers in the United States.

The hospital was also recognized for excellent cardiac care with the Mission: Lifeline Gold Plus Receiving Quality Achievement Award and the Mission: Lifeline NSTEMI Bronze Quality Achievement Award. These awards recognize Fort Sanders Regional for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association for the treatment of patients who suffer severe heart attacks. The hospital earned the STEMI Gold Plus Receiving Award by attaining 24 consecutive months’ performance at 75% or greater on the achievement measures.

“These designations recognize the dedicated work our physicians and staff put in daily to ensure our patients receive excellent, quality care,” said Keith Altshuler, chief administrative officer of Fort Sanders Regional. “These recognitions represent our increased focus on providing the best stroke and cardiac care for our community.”

These designations reinforce Fort Sanders Regional’s standing as a Stroke Center of Excellence, and the only facility in the region to hold both a Comprehensive Stroke Center certification from The Joint Commission and two separate stroke accreditations from the Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. The designations also support Fort Sanders Regional’s Heart Center’s reputation for comprehensive cardiovascular services and treating some of the most complex cardiac cases in the region.

For more information visit www.covenanthealth.com.

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About Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center

Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, a member of Knoxville-based Covenant Health, is a 541-bed regional referral center for neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, oncology, cardiology, obstetrics and rehabilitation medicine.