SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Twelve hospitals within Sutter’s not-for-profit network received recognition from the American Stroke Association (ASA) for providing a high level of stroke care and participating in the ASA’s Get With The Guidelines® program. Additionally, 20 hospitals in the Sutter system received recognition from the American Heart Association (AHA) for consistently applying the American College of Cardiology guidelines when treating patients with heart failure, and participating in the AHA’s Get With The Guidelines® program.

Stroke Care

Sutter hospitals including Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, California Pacific Medical Center – Van Ness campus in San Francisco, Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, Mills-Peninsula Medical Center in Burlingame, Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, Sutter Tracy Community Hospital, Novato Community Hospital, and Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital each earned a Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold-Plus Quality Achievement Award for meeting or exceeded performance-focused quality benchmarks set forth by the American Stroke Association. Memorial Hospital Los Banos and Sutter Roseville Medical Center earned the Silver-Plus Quality Achievement Award and Sutter Solano Medical Center earned Bronze. 

“The care teams in our Brain & Mind service line work closely together, using evidence-based clinical practices, so patients receive high-quality care and exceptional service,” said Bill Isenberg, M.D., chief quality and safety officer for Sutter Health. “Our goal of continuous improvement in the neurosciences helps drive and strengthen our integrated health care network.”

Each of the honored hospitals are designated by The Joint Commission as Primary Stroke Centers and serve as a resource available to patients needing stroke-related services.

Our goal of continuous improvement in the neurosciences helps drive and strengthen our integrated health care network.

Eleven of the Sutter hospitals honored also earned a place in the Stroke Honor Roll —with Sutter Tracy Community Hospital and Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital each receiving Elite Plus Honor Roll status. To qualify for this recognition, these hospitals 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, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat acute ischemic stroke.

Furthermore, this year marks the debut of two new Stroke Honor Rolls, and Sutter hospitals earned a place on each. Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento is among only 11 hospitals in California to be listed on the Advanced Therapy Honor Roll which recognizes participating hospitals that met timeliness targets for the removal of blood clots from the brain under image guidance. This procedure, known as endovascular thrombectomy, is not performed at all hospitals. Additionally, eight Sutter hospitals earned a place on the new Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll, which promotes evidence-based care for patients with this condition.

Cardiology Care

The 2020 Get With The Guidelines® awards also recognizes hospitals that maintain high standards in the treatment of heart failure. Overall, 20 Sutter hospitals demonstrated their commitment to providing the most appropriate cardiac care by following nationally recognized, research-based guidelines to treat heart failure and participating in the Get With The Guidelines® program.

Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center (Oakland and Berkeley campuses), California Pacific Medical Center (Davies, Mission Bernal, and Van Ness campuses), Memorial Medical Center, Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, Memorial Hospital Los Banos, Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital, Sutter Coast Hospital in Crescent City, Sutter Davis Hospital, Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch, Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport, Sutter Roseville Medical Center, Sutter Solano Medical Center in Vallejo, Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, Novato Community Hospital, and Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital each earned a Get With The Guidelines®- Gold Quality Achievement Award for high quality heart failure care. Sutter Tracy Community Hospital earned Silver and Eden Medical Center earned the Bronze Quality Achievement Award for high quality heart failure care. 

Sutter’s Mills-Peninsula Medical Center also earned recognition for the evidence based care of coronary artery disease, and for meeting or exceeding care recommendations for patients presenting with an ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) – a specific kind of heart attack that can be caused by coronary artery disease.

“The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association are pleased to recognize these Sutter hospitals for their commitment to stroke and cardiac care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee and Executive Vice Chair of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines® quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”

Sutter Health proactively implements programs across its integrated network that continuously improve the quality and value of healthcare for patients. Its integration across regions, clinical settings and data environments is delivering care models with some of the best clinical outcomes in the nation. From heart transplants to valve replacements to cardiac ablations, Sutter’s Cardiovascular Health service line practitioners use innovative procedures and treatments to care for patients with a wide variety of specialized heart and vascular needs.