Penn State Hershey recognized for its care of heart failure and stroke patients

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association has recognized Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center for its ongoing commitment to providing high-level care to heart failure and stroke patients.

The Medical Center has received the Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award and the Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award through the Get With The Guidelines program.

The Gold Plus awards recognize Penn State Hershey for following evidence-based guidelines and ensuring that stroke and heart failure patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted standards and recommendations. These include aggressive use of certain medical and therapeutic treatments.

This marks the fifth consecutive year the Medical Center has been recognized at the Gold Plus level for stroke care and the first year it received the honor for heart failure care.

In addition to the above recognition, Penn State Hershey also received the association's Target: Stroke Honor Roll and Target: Heart Failure Honor Roll. For stroke, the designation indicates a high number of stroke patients eligible for tPA – also known as the “clot-busting drug” – received it within an hour of arriving at the Medical Center. For heart failure, it signals compliance with additional quality measures related to treatment and follow-up care. Currently, Penn State Hershey is one of just two hospitals in Pennsylvania to appear on both the Target: Stroke and Target: Heart Failure honor rolls.

Within the past year, Penn State Hershey was named a Comprehensive Stroke Center by the Joint Commission and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

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