University Hospitals Nationally Recognized Once Again for Commitment to Excellence in Stroke Care

CLEVELAND - University Hospitals has received numerous American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines^® - Stroke quality achievement awards for its commitment to ensuring people experiencing stroke receive timely, appropriate treatment based on nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, ultimately helping to save lives and reduce disability.

Stroke is the No. 4 cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the U.S, according to the American Heart Association's 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Report. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel supplying the brain is blocked by a clot or ruptures, preventing blood and oxygen from reaching brain tissue. When this happens, brain cells begin to die. Early detection and rapid treatment are critical to improving survival, minimizing disability and supporting faster recovery.

Get With The Guidelines brings the high-quality standards of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association into hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest research- and evidence-based guidelines. Get With The Guidelines - Stroke is an in-hospital program designed to improve stroke care through consistent adherence to these guidelines, which can minimize long-term effects of stroke and help prevent death.

"University Hospitals is committed to providing state-of the-art, advanced care while adhering to the highest quality metrics," said Amrou Sarraj, MD, FAHA, FSVIN, Director, Comprehensive Stroke Center and Stroke Systems at the UH Neurological Institute, George M. Humphrey II, Chair in Neurology, and Professor of Neurology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. "Our stroke systems have long been recognized as top performing nation-wide, as evidenced by the standing tradition of achieving awards from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association since the Get With The Guidelines recognition program began."

Participants qualify for the award each year by demonstrating commitment to quality care for stroke patients. In addition to following treatment guidelines, Get With The Guidelines participants also educate patients to help them manage their health and recovery at home.

The following hospitals received levels of achievement this year across the UH health system:

Get With The Guidelines - Stroke Gold Plus and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus
Gold recognizes performance of 24 consecutive months or more. Gold Plus awards are advanced levels of recognition acknowledging hospitals for consistent compliance with quality measures. Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus recognizes 75% of applicable patients experiencing door-to-needle times of 45 minutes or less, and 50% of applicable patients experiencing door-to-needle times of 30 minutes or less. (Door-to-needle times refer to the time between hospital arrival and intravenous thrombolytic therapy (IVT) administration.)

• UH Ahuja Medical Center
• UH Cleveland Medical Center
• UH Lake West Medical Center
• UH TriPoint Medical Center
• Southwest General Health Center (a joint-venture hospital)

Get With The Guidelines - Stroke Gold Plus and Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite
Gold recognizes performance of 24 consecutive months or more. Gold Plus awards are advanced levels of recognition acknowledging hospitals for consistent compliance with quality measures. Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite recognizes 85% of applicable patients experiencing door to needle times of 60 minutes or less.

• UH Elyria Medical Center
• UH Geneva Medical Center
• UH Parma Medical Center
• UH Portage Medical Center
• UH Samaritan Medical Center
• UH St. John Medical Center

Get With The Guidelines - Stroke Gold Plus and Target: Stroke Honor Roll
Gold recognizes performance of 24 consecutive months or more. Gold Plus awards are advanced levels of recognition acknowledging hospitals for consistent compliance with quality measures Target: Stroke Honor Roll recognizes 75% of applicable patients experiencing door to needle times of 60 minutes or less.

• UH Geauga Medical Center, a campus of UH Regional Hospitals

Get With The Guidelines - Rural Stroke Gold
This award recognizes hospitals for their efforts toward acute stroke care excellence demonstrated by composite score compliance to guideline-directed care for intravenous thrombolytic therapy, timely hospital inter-facility transfer, dysphagia screening, symptom timeline and deficit assessment documentation, emergency medical services communication, brain imaging and stroke expert consultation.

• UH Conneaut Medical Center
• UH Geneva Medical Center
• UH Samaritan Medical Center

Target: Stroke Advanced Therapy Honor Roll
UH Cleveland Medical Center also met specific scientific guidelines as a Comprehensive Stroke Center achieving Target Stroke Advanced Therapy Honor Roll for the sixth year for rapid diagnosis and treatment of severe stroke patients requiring thrombectomy procedure. For this award, hospitals successfully treated at least 50% of qualified stroke patients within 90 minutes of arriving directly to their facility and within 60 minutes of arriving as a transfer.

UH Ahuja, Cleveland, Elyria, Geauga, Geneva, Lake West, Parma, Portage, Samaritan, St. John, and TriPoint medical centers, as well as Southwest General Health Center received Target: Type 2 Diabetes™ Honor Roll awards. These awards recognize hospitals for providing the most up-to-date, evidence-based care for patients with type 2 diabetes who are hospitalized with heart failure, heart attack or stroke.

"Get With The Guidelines helps our teams put proven science into practice every day," Dr. Sarraj added. "Research shows this approach can support better recovery, with the ultimate goal of helping people in Northeast Ohio live longer, healthier lives."

"We are proud to recognize University Hospitals for its commitment to caring for people experiencing stroke," said Steven Messe, MD, volunteer chair of the American Heart Association Stroke System of Care Advisory Group. "Participation in Get With The Guidelines is associated with improved patient outcomes, including greater likelihood of being discharged home, fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates - a meaningful benefit for health care systems, families and communities."