PHOENIX (Aug. 20, 2020) ― Nine Arizona and Colorado Banner Health hospitals have received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes their commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.

      Hospitals receiving the Gold Plus award are:

·        Banner Baywood Medical Center

·        Banner Boswell Medical Center

·        Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center

·        Banner Desert Medical Center

·        Banner Estrella Medical Center

·        Banner Thunderbird Medical Center

·        Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix

·        Banner – University Medical Center Tucson

·        North Colorado Medical Center

These Banner hospitals earned the award by meeting specific quality-achievement measures for diagnosing and treating stroke patients. Hospitals were evaluated on their proper use of medications and other evidence-based stroke treatments to speed recovery and reduce death and disability. Hospitals were also recognized for teaching patients on health management, scheduling follow-up visits and providing other transitional care.

"Banner Health is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the Get WithThe Guidelines-Stroke initiative," said Peter Nakaji, MD, physician executive of Neurosurgery at Banner Health and physician executive director of the Banner – University Medicine Neuroscience Institute. Nakaji also serves as chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Banner for the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. "We know that every 40 seconds someone suffers a stroke. And we understand that in the case of stroke, time is brain and by using the most up-to date methods to diagnose and treat our patients, we can help people recover better and faster."

Seven of the nine hospitals also received the AHA’s Target: Stroke^SM Honor Roll Elite award. To qualify,  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, or tPA. Those seven are Banner Baywood, Banner Boswell, Banner Del E. Webb, Banner Desert, Banner Estrella, Banner – University Phoenix and Banner – University Tucson.

Banner Del E. Webb was also singled out for having Door-To-Device times of 90 minutes or less for direct arriving and 60 minutes or less for transfer for applicable patients.

Seven of the hospitals additionally received the AHA’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals met quality measures around diabetes and cardiovascular care. Those hospitals are Banner Baywood, Banner Boswell, Banner Desert, Banner Estrella, Banner Thunderbird, Banner – University Tucson and North Colorado Medical Center.          

About Banner Health

Headquartered in Arizona, Banner Health is one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the country. The system owns and operates 28 acute-care hospitals, Banner Health Network, Banner – University Medicine, academic and employed physician groups, long-term care centers, outpatient surgery centers and an array of other services; including Banner Urgent Care, family clinics, home care and hospice services, pharmacies and a nursing registry. Banner Health is in six states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming. For more information, visit bannerhealth.com.

About Get With The Guidelines®

Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s 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 9 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org/quality.