Albany Memorial Hospital – an affiliate of St. Peter’s Health Partners, the region’s largest health system – has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines (GWTG)-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes Albany Memorial’s commitment and success in ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence. To receive the Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to GWTG-stroke achievement indicators, and 75 percent or higher compliance with five or more GWTG-stroke quality measures for 12 consecutive months to improve quality of patient care and outcomes. GWTG quality measures are designed to help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. They focus on appropriate use of guideline-based care for stroke patients, including aggressive use of medications such as clot-busting and anti-clotting drugs, blood thinners and cholesterol-reducing drugs, preventive action for deep vein thrombosis and smoking cessation counseling. […]