Maui Hospital Leads State in Heart and Stroke Quality Achievement

Maui Memorial Medical Center has earned the highly-distinguished Gold Plus Quality Achievement Awards from American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines program.

MMMC team members include (left to right) Sonia Markh, RN; Dr. Deyaa Mounir, Heart Failure Physician Champion; Leslie Lexier, RN, Heart Failure Quality Specialist; Dr. George Powell, Stroke Program Medical Director; Jennifer Olsten, RN, Stroke Quality Specialist; Dr. William Langston, ED Physician; Dr. Turgut Berkmen, Interventional Radiologist; and Ione Chong, RN.

The awards recognize Maui Memorial Medical Center’s commitment and success in implementing a high standard of heart failure and stroke care by ensuring that these patients receive treatment that meets nationally accepted, evidence-based standards and recommendations.

MMMC also received recognition for the associations’ Target: Heart FailureSM Honor Roll and Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Elite Plus.

MMMC is the only hospital in the state of Hawaiʻi to achieve both the Gold Plus award as well as Target: Heart Failure Honor Roll. Only 11 other hospitals in the entire Western Region (which includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaiʻi, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) received the award.

MMMC Heart team includes (left to right) Dr. Kimble Poon, Cardiologist, Leslie Lexier, RN and Heart Failure Quality Specialist, and Dr. Deyaa Mounir, Heart Failure Physician Champion.

“Our greatest reward is serving our patients and seeing how we’re affecting lives,” said Leslie Lexier, RN, Heart Failure Quality Specialist. “That is why we are committed to turning treatment guidelines into lifelines.”

This marks the 9th year that MMMC has been recognized with a quality achievement award.

American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure is a quality improvement program that helps hospital teams follow the most up-to-date, research-based standards with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing hospital readmissions for heart failure patients.

Launched in 2005, numerous published studies have demonstrated the program’s success in achieving patient outcome improvements, including reductions in 30-day readmissions.

MMMC Stroke team includes (left to right) Dr. George Powell, Stroke Program Medical Director; Jennifer Olsten, RN, Stroke Quality Specialist; Dr. William Langston, ED Physician, and Dr. Turgut Berkmen, Interventional Radiologist.

MMMC earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure patients. These measures include evaluation of the patient, proper use of medications and aggressive risk-reduction therapies. Before patients are discharged, they also receive education on managing their heart failure and overall health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

American Stroke Association Get With The Guidelines-Stroke puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping hospital care teams ensure the care provided to patients is aligned with the latest research-based guidelines.

Developed with the goal to save lives, improve recovery time and reduce disability for stroke patients, the program has impacted more than 3 million patients since 2003.

Hospitals must achieve 85% or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieve 75% or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke quality measures to receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

MMMC also follows specific scientific guidelines as a Certified Primary Stroke Center, featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.

“The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association recognize Maui Memorial Medical Center for its commitment to stroke care,” said Paul Heidenreich, M.D., M.S., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. “Research has shown there are benefits to patients who are treated at hospitals that have adopted the Get With The Guidelines program.”