Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers Receive "Get With The Guidelines®" Quality Achievement Awards

OAKLAND, Calif., July 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Reaffirming Kaiser Permanente's commitment to delivering excellent quality care, several of Kaiser Permanente's medical centers have received the "Get With The Guidelines®" award from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. These awards recognize excellence in the treatment of patients with heart disease or patients who have suffered from a stroke.

"We are deeply honored to be recognized for the commitment we have made to effectively treat heart failure and stroke," said Dr. Jed Weisberg, senior vice president, Hospitals, Quality and Care Delivery Experience at Kaiser Permanente.  "We are proud of the capabilities we've honed in which evidence-based coordinated care allows us to go beyond simply stabilizing a serious condition. Our mission is to reduce or eliminate causes of heart failure and stroke and guide our patients to recovery and long-term improvements."

Gold awards are given exclusively to hospitals that achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all "Get With The Guidelines" Quality Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals. For the Silver Performance Award, hospitals must maintain the required performance level for at least twelve months. There is also the Plus award which adds to a current gold or silver award for additional 75 percent compliance with module-specific quality measures for at least twelve consecutive months.

Eight of the 14 Kaiser Permanente hospitals recognized last year have maintained their Gold Plus status this year, with three facilities going from a Silver or Silver Plus to a Gold Plus. Those hospitals are Kaiser Permanente Roseville and Sacramento Medical Centers, Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco Medical Center, and Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center. Three Gold Plus hospitals received the added recognition of making the Target: Stroke Honor Roll: Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Medical Center.

The following Kaiser Permanente facilities received awards:

For Get With The Guidelines–Stroke, measures include aggressive use of medications, such as t-PA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients. Under Get With The Guidelines–Heart Failure, heart failure patients are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, diuretics, and anticoagulants in the hospital. They also receive alcohol/drug use and thyroid management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before being discharged.

This high-tech, evidence-based approach aligns with Kaiser Permanente's patient-centered care model. The model improves the quality of care provided to stroke and heart failure patients, saves lives, and ultimately, reduces health care costs by avoiding re-hospitalization.  

As stated by the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association, "Get With The Guidelines" is a voluntary program that is self-reported by the hospitals that have participated. The hospitals themselves must verify that they have met criteria for the achievement levels outlined by the program. This achievement list is not meant to suggest that unmentioned hospitals are inadequately treating heart disease or stroke victims.

According to the American Stroke Association, 795,000 Americans each year suffer a new or recurrent stroke. On average, a stroke occurs every 40 seconds. Stroke kills more than 137,000 people a year, about 1 of every 18 deaths. It's the No. 3 cause of death behind diseases of the heart and cancer. On average, every 4 minutes someone dies of stroke. According to the American Heart Association, about 5.7 million people suffer from heart failure.  Statistics also show that each year 670,000 new cases are diagnosed and more than 277,000 people will die of heart failure.

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 8.8 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.

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SOURCE Kaiser Permanente