Kaiser Permanente Recognized for Stroke Care in Fremont

The Kaiser Permanente medical center in Fremont has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to providing the most appropriate stroke treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

"This award is a reflection of the high-quality stroke care we provide every day to our patients," said Michelle Gaskill-Hames, Senior Vice President and Area Manager, Kaiser Permanente Southern Alameda County. “Our STROKE Express program is providing a faster, better way to diagnose, treat and save stroke patients."

The award acknowledges that the Fremont medical center reached an aggressive goal of achieving 85% or higher of all the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive years. In addition, the hospital achieved 75% or higher compliance with at least five of the eight stroke quality measures.

"This award recognizes the dedication and commitment of our physicians and staff to ensure that stroke patients receive the highest quality of care," said Robert Greenberg, MD, Physician-in-Chief of Kaiser Permanente in southern Alameda County. "Our multi-disciplinary approach to treating stroke patients uses technology to draw upon our deep regional expertise in neurology, neurosurgery and imaging, leading to dramatically improved outcomes for all of our patients."

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States and the leading cause of serious long-term disability.

At Kaiser Permanente, the STROKE Express Program is significantly reducing the time it takes to administer life-saving medication to patients arriving in the emergency department. A team of physicians, nurses and other medical staff are trained to evaluate stroke patients quickly and provide rapid treatment to reduce the risk of long-term damage to the brain and body.

To qualify for the AHA's Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus, 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. The medication can improve the chance of survival and minimize the risk of long-term damage.

Kaiser Permanente’s medical center in Fremont received the award after meeting specific quality achievement measures. In addition, Kaiser Permanente’s medical center in San Leandro was awarded Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award and also named to the Target Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll.

According to guidelines set by the American Stroke Association, a patient suffering from a stroke caused by disruption of blood flow due to a clot in the brain’s arteries should receive clot-dissolving medication within 60 minutes of arriving at the hospital. Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals are routinely achieving "door-to-needle" times for alteplase of under 60 minutes; and on average, are administering alteplase treatment in 33 minutes, nearly half of the recommended time.

Both Kaiser Permanente medical centers named to the Target Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll (San Leandro and Fremont) are certified as Primary Stroke Centers by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations after demonstrating each can significantly improve outcomes for stroke patients.