Vista Earns 2 Gold-Plus Awards
Vista Health System announced today that its Stroke and Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) programs at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan have each received nationally recognized quality achievement awards. Both programs are also fully accredited by The Joint Commission with Vista East designated as a Primary Stroke Center.
Vista's Stroke program earned the Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold-Plus Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Vista received the Silver-Plus award last year.
Meanwhile, Vista's CHF program won the Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure Gold-Plus Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Foundation secondary prevention guidelines for heart failure patients.
"Winning these two awards is a tremendous recognition of the caliber of our Stroke and Congestive Heart Failure programs," said Barbara Martin, President & CEO of Vista Health System. "These awards demonstrate our commitment to continually improving the quality of care in these two vitally important areas."
Get With The Guidelines-Stroke helps hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Vista 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.
Vista also received the association's Target: Stroke Honor Roll for meeting stroke quality measures that reduce the time between hospital arrival and treatment with the clot-buster tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.
Since July 2012, Vista East has participated in the Rush TeleStroke Network with Rush University Medical Center. Using a TeleStroke robot on site at Vista East, the Emergency Department staff can quickly connect to a Rush neurologist on call 24/7 who can see and hear patients while reviewing the patient's vitals and other data. This allows the Rush neurologist to assess the stroke symptoms and determine if tPA is recommended.
Vista's CHF program was cited in its award for meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure patients. Vista inpatients with CHF are seen by a heart failure nurse to review their condition, medication and self-management at home.
Appointments are set up for patients to see a physician within seven days after discharge to reduce the risk of readmission within the first 30 days. Patients also receive assistance for transition to home health care or a nursing facility, if needed.
Vista offers the Heart Failure Recovery Clinic for patients to see a resource nurse once a week for four weeks for symptom and medication management, diet and other issues that can affect their health.
More information on Vista's Stroke and CHF programs is available at VistaHealth.com.
Vista Health System is a network that includes: two hospitals in Waukegan - Vista Medical Center East and Vista Medical Center West; the Vista Lindenhurst campus that includes the Vista Ambulatory Care Center, Lindenhurst Surgery Center, LLC, the Vista Freestanding Emergency Center, and the new Vista Medical Office Building; and several locations for imaging, patient therapy and physician practices. Vista is a Center of Excellence in a number of key service areas and accredited in Bariatric Surgery, Cancer, Chest Pain, Congestive Heart Failure, Inpatient Diabetes, Orthopedics, Rehabilitation and Stroke. To learn more about Vista Health System, please visit VistaHealth.com.