Raritan Bay Medical Center Recognized for High Quality Stroke Care   

Raritan Bay Medical Center Recognized for High Quality Stroke Care

American Heart Association recognizes Raritan Bay Old Bridge and Raritan Bay Perth Amboy’s commitment to high quality stroke care

Hackensack Meridian Health Raritan Bay Medical Center-Old Bridge and Raritan Bay Medical Center-Perth Amboy recently received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s (AHA/ASA) Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospitals’ commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

“Raritan Bay Medical Center is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the AHA’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative. The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes,” said Eric Uhrik, D.O., medical director, Stroke Center at Raritan Bay Medical Center.

The Silver Plus Award adds to Raritan Bay’s stroke care quality recognitions which also include New Jersey Department of Health designation as a Primary Stroke Center, The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval and the AHA’s Heart-Check mark for Advanced Certification for Primary Stroke Centers. “These recognitions mean that patients can feel very confident they will receive expert care at Raritan Bay when suffering from stroke,” said Dr. Uhrik.

Raritan Bay earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

Raritan Bay also received the association’s Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Award. To qualify for this recognition, Raritan Bay met 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.

Stroke care is a priority for Hackensack Meridian Health with nine network hospitals receiving the AHA/ASA’s Stroke Gold Plus award, including; Hackensack University Medical Center; Jersey Shore University Medical Center; Mountainside Medical Center; Ocean Medical Center; Palisades Medical Center; Riverview Medical Center; JFK Medical Center; Bayshore Medical Center, and Southern Ocean Medical Center.

According to the AHA/ASA, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. 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.

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care. Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 16 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children’s hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital in Neptune; 11 community hospitals - Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood, JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.

Additionally, the network has more than 160 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, and urgent care and after-hours centers. Hackensack Meridian Health has 33,000 team members, and 6,500 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The network's notable distinctions include having one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America's 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more consecutive years, four hospitals among the top 10 in New Jersey, including Hackensack University Medical Center which is ranked No. 1 by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, a six-time recipient of Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For," one of the "20 Best Workplaces in Health Care" in the nation, and the number one "Best Place to Work for Women." Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.

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 tools and resources to increase adherence to 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 6 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.

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