Atlanta & Forsyth Awarded Stroke Certification from
The Joint Commission
After undergoing on-site evaluations and demonstrating compliance with nationally developed standards for stroke care, Northside Hospital-Atlanta and Northside Hospital-Forsyth have been awarded full two-year certifications as Advanced Primary Stroke Centers by The Joint Commission, with no recommendations for improvement.
“Northside Hospital is honored that both our Atlanta and Forsyth campuses have achieved this distinction from The Joint Commission,” said Skip Putnam, CEO of Northside Hospital-Forsyth and vice president of administration, Northside Hospital. “It celebrates the hard work of our staff and recognizes our commitment to excellence and to providing the best possible care to our patients and our community.”
According to the American Stroke Association, about 795,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke each year. It is the nation’s third leading cause of death. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and someone dies of a stroke every 3.1 minutes. Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States, with about 4.7 million stroke survivors alive today.
The Northside Hospital Stroke Care Program provides comprehensive care for stroke patients and those at risk, including screening, education, early diagnosis, access to a wide array of state-of-the-art treatment resources and monthly support groups. This achievement from The Joint Commission signifies that Northside has made exceptional efforts to achieve long-term success in improving outcomes for stroke patients and has the critical elements to meet their unique and specialized needs. The surveyor was very complimentary of Northside’s staff and the care that it provides. She also added that she rarely sees hospitals complete a survey with no recommendations for improvement, as both hospitals did.
Northside Hospital-Atlanta and Northside Hospital-Forsyth also received full two-year certifications for their hip and knee replacement services. Northside Hospital-Atlanta received additional certification for high-risk obstetrics. The Joint Commission’s Disease-Specific Care Certification program is designed to evaluate clinical programs across the continuum of care, addressing three core areas: compliance with consensus-based national standards; effective use of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to manage and optimize care; and an organized approach to performance measurement and improvement activities.
About The Joint Commission
Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 18,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. The Joint Commission also provides certification of more than 1,700 disease-specific care programs, primary stroke centers, and health care staffing services. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at www.jointcommission.org.
Click here for more information on Northside's Stroke Program.
