Mercy Fort Smith Recognized for Stroke Care

Mercy Fort Smith has received recognition for stroke care from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. The groups awarded Mercy with the 2020 "Get with the Guidelines" Stroke Award and the Gold Plus Target Stroke Elite award for 2020. 

Mercy Fort Smith achieved a compliance of 85% or higher for 24 consecutive months of seven hospital measures, in addition to a 75% or greater compliance in six quality measures and a door-to-needle time of 60 minutes or fewer in 85% of our applicable patients. 

The award highlights Mercy’s continued success using the “Get With The Guidelines-Stroke” program administered by the associations.

“The excellent work our co-workers are doing for patients is reflected in these recognitions," said Ryan Gehrig, Mercy Fort Smith Hospital president. "I am extremely proud of the stroke care we provide and know this will continue with this team. We appreciate everything this group brings to Mercy Fort Smith every day." 

Hospitals earn GOLD PLUS by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients for a minimum of two consecutive years. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments, in addition to using the evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. 

According to the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the U.S. Nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.