News at UI Health

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) has recognized UI Health with two Get With The Guidelines® awards for its quality and commitment to providing effective care and treatment, using the most advanced procedures available, for stroke and heart failure, and with two Mission: Lifeline® awards for quality and commitment to providing rapid, research-based care to people experiencing a heart attack.

UI Health received the following quality achievement awards:

• Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite
• Get With The Guidelines® Heart Failure Gold Plus Award with Target: HF and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
• Mission: Lifeline® NSTEMI Gold
• Mission: Lifeline^® STEMI Receiving Gold Plus

This is the seventh consecutive year UI Health has received the top stroke award and the fifth consecutive year it has achieved the heart failure designation. It is the second year in a row UI Health has been recognized with NSTEMI and STEMI awards.

To qualify for Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite, 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 (tPA), the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. Hospitals recognized with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite designation meet door-to-device times in at least 85% of applicable patients experiencing door to needle times of 60 minutes or less.

UI Health earned Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: HF by meeting specific criteria that improves medication adherence, provides early follow-up care and coordination, and enhances patient education. The goal is to reduce hospital readmissions and help patients improve their quality of life in managing this chronic condition. To qualify for Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll, hospitals must meet quality measures developed with more than 75% of compliance for 12 consecutive months for the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.”

To qualify for Mission: Lifeline® NSTEMI Gold, hospitals must have achievement scores of 85% or greater regarding cardiac rehab referral from an inpatient setting; ACEI/ARB at discharge; left ventricular systolic function evaluations; and smoking cessation counseling. They also must have an achievement score of 65% or greater for dual antiplatelet therapy on discharge.

UI Health earned the Mission: Lifeline® STEMI Receiving Gold Plus by meeting for more than two consecutive years an achievement score of 75% or greater regarding arrival to PCI in less than 90 minutes; aspirin, beta blockers, and ACEI/ARB at discharge; in addition to cardiac rehab referral from inpatient settings.

Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines^® quality-improvement initiatives can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates. Studies also show patients can recover better when providers consistently follow treatment guidelines such those associated with the Mission: Lifeline program. UI Health’s dedication to providing optimal care for stroke and cardiac patients ultimately leads to fewer readmissions to the hospital, shorter recovery times, and, most importantly, more lives saved.