ROWLETT, Texas – May 4, 2015 – Lake Pointe Medical Center (LPMC) has received the Get With The Guidelines®- Target: Stroke Honor Roll- Elite Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for the treatment of stroke patients. The award recognizes LPMC’s commitment and success ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
“We are proud to have received this elite award,” said LPMC CEO Brett Lee. “It is our goal to provide the best, most reliable care to our patients, and this award attests to the hard work our medical staff strives to provide.”
To receive the Target: Stroke Honor Roll award, 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. If given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability. Over three months or greater, at least 50 percent of the hospital’s ischemic stroke patients have received tPA within 60 minutes of arriving at the hospital (known as door-to-needle time).
These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery time and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.
“We are pleased to recognize Lake Pointe Medical Center for its commitment to stroke care,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering committee and Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Studies have shown hospitals that consistently follow Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce length of stay and 30-day readmission rates and reduce disparities in care.”
For patients, Get With The Guidelines–Stroke uses the “teachable moment,” the time soon after a patient has had a stroke, when they learn how to manage their risk factors while still in the hospital and recognize the F.A.S.T. warning signs of a stroke (face drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty and time to call 9-1-1).
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
ABOUT LAKE POINTE MEDICAL CENTER
Lake Pointe Medical Center is a 112-bed acute care hospital located at 6800 Scenic Drive in Rowlett. Lake Pointe Medical Center has been serving the region’s healthcare needs since 1987. The hospital provides a wide spectrum of medical services, including an emergency department with Fast Track services, a 14-bed intensive care unit, women's services, a Level II and Level III NICU, interventional cardiology, diagnostic imaging, and eight operating rooms. With a medical staff of over 500 physicians, Lake Pointe Medical Center provides most specialty services. The hospital has been designated as a Pathway To Excellence Facility three times by the American Nurse Credentialing Center. The hospital holds CIGNA Center of Excellence Designations for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), General Cardiac Medical (heart attack, heart failure, irregular heartbeat), Stroke and Vaginal Delivery. The hospital is designated as a Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission and a Level IV Trauma Center by the Texas Department of State Health Services. In 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, LPMC was named one of the nation’s top performers on key quality measures by The Joint Commission. The hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission, the nation’s oldest and largest hospital accreditation agency, licensed by the state of Texas and certified for participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. To learn more about Lake Pointe Medical Center, visit www.lakepointemedical.com.
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 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 5 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org/quality or heart.org/QualityMap
###