Little Rock, Ark. – The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) recognizes fourteen hospitals for excellence in stroke patient care.

These awards are based on stroke care performance as documented in the Arkansas Stroke Registry for July 2021 and June 2022 patient discharges. They are given to hospitals for providing defect-free stroke care. Defect-free care is an aggregated metric based on the ten American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) Coverdell performance measures in the Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Patient Management Tool. These measures are benchmarked according to the standards of evidence-based stroke care guidelines to ensure stroke patients receive appropriate and timely care.

“We are delighted to see the improvement in stroke care as demonstrated by these hospitals,” said Bala Simon, MD, DrPH, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and State Chronic Disease Director at Arkansas Department of Health. “Through our work with the communities, EMS, and hospitals we hope to improve quality of stroke care among Arkansans with this devastating condition.”

The Arkansas Stroke Registry (ASR) is the ADH stroke surveillance and quality improvement program. Oversight for the ASR is provided by the Acute Stroke Care Task Force (ASCTF). The ASR partners closely with the AHA/ASA, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), the ASCTF, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Institute for Health and Innovation (IDHI) Stroke Program, and the Mercy Telestroke system. The primary goal of the ASR is to perform stroke surveillance, monitor stroke care performance, and provide stroke education and quality improvement assistance to improve stroke patient care and outcomes.

There are three award categories* are based on the level of adherence to the defect-free care measure:

• Diamond: 95%+
• Ruby: 90%-94.99%
• Pearl: 85%-89.99%

Congratulations to the following facilities for earning recognition for defect-free stroke care:

• Comprehensive Stroke Centers
  • Diamond
    • University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
    • Washington Regional Medical Center
  • Pearl
    • Baptist Health Medical Center – Little Rock
• Primary Stroke Centers
  • Pearl
    • Mercy Hospital Fort Smith
    • Northwest Medical Center – Springdale
    • Wadley Regional Medical Center
• Arkansas Stroke Ready Hospitals/Acute Stroke Ready Hospitals
  • Diamond
    • Drew Memorial Hospital
    • Mercy Hospital Booneville
    • St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center
  • Ruby
    • St. Bernards – Five Rivers Medical Center
  • Pearl
    • Mercy ED Springdale
    • Medical Center of South Arkansas
    • Johnson Regional Medical Center
    • Baptist Health Medical Center – Arkadelphia

To be eligible for an award, a hospital must be stroke designated either through ADH or another accrediting body such as The Joint Commission. A hospital may also qualify for a Pearl award if performance is in the 75th percentile among its designation group.

Click here for a listing of hospitals participating in the Arkansas Stroke Registry as well as stroke-designated facilities.

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