San Ramon Regional Medical Center Earns National Recognition for Efforts to Improve Stroke Treatment

San Ramon, Calif. - San Ramon Regional Medical Center has received the American Heart Association’s Gold Plus Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Quality Achievement Award for their commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.

Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the U.S. 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. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and speeding recovery times.

Get With The Guidelines-Stroke was developed to assist healthcare professionals to provide the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines for treating stroke patients.

“We are so honored to be recognized once again by the American Heart Association for our dedication to helping our patients have the best possible chance of survival and quality of life after a stroke. We are proud to be an accredited Primary Stroke Center that delivers excellent clinical outcomes. This recognition is a testament to the commitment shown by our physicians, nurses and staff to care for patients every day,” said Ann Lucena, CEO of San Ramon Regional Medical Center.

Each year program participants apply for the award recognition by demonstrating how their organization has committed to providing quality care for stroke patients. In addition to following treatment guidelines, participants also provide education to patients to help them manage their health and rehabilitation once at home.

“We are pleased to recognize San Ramon Regional Medical Center 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.”

San Ramon Regional Medical Center 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, San Ramon Regional Medical Center 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.”

San Ramon Regional Medical Center is certified as a Primary Stroke Center by The Joint Commission. Part of the Contra Costa County Stroke System, launched in 2012, the hospital’s Emergency Department is a stroke receiving center for the county and provides rapid diagnosis and treatment. The Stroke System is a coordinated 911 emergency response, linking patients to trained emergency medical providers who identify stroke victims and rapidly transport them to designated stroke-certified hospitals within the critical treatment time window. This teamwork is known to significantly reduce brain damage and save lives. Every minute counts when someone is experiencing a medical emergency such as a stroke or heart attack, and the San Ramon Regional Medical Center team is able to provide those patients with immediate attention.