UW Hospital recognized for stroke care

UW Hospital and Clinics has been recognized by an independent national assessment organization for excellence in the provision of stroke care to patients and as a recipient of the 2000 100 Top Stroke Hospitals Award.

100 Top Hospitals, Stroke Benchmarks for Success, conducted for the first time in 2000 by HCIA-Sachs, will be an annual study that identifies U.S. hospitals that provide the greatest value in delivering stroke care.

The comprehensive stroke program at the hospital offers intervention both to prevent stroke and to minimize its effects. Patients brought to UW Hospital with a suspected stroke are treated by members of the acute stroke team, available 24 hours a day. The hospital has advanced diagnostic techniques in brain and blood vessel imaging as well as sophisticated devices that can be placed within the brain to prevent and treat certain kinds of stroke.

“Using a team approach to this disorder has helped us greatly streamline and improve the care of stroke patients, and we are continually pursuing research to develop better treatments as well,” says Robert Dempsey, chief of neurosurgery and director of the stroke program. “We are very gratified to be recognized among the nation’s elite stroke hospitals.”

The HCIA-Sachs study is based on objective, quantitative data that are consistent across the U.S. The measures for the 2000 study include risk-adjusted patient mortality; risk-adjusted patient complications; the number of patients receiving stroke services; average length of stay, adjusted for severity; average cost per patient; and the percentage of patients who came from and were discharged to home or a home health agency.

UW Hospital was measured against other teaching hospitals with neurology residency programs and was the only Wisconsin hospital in that category to be ranked among the top institutions. Others ranked in that category included Massachusetts General in Boston, Methodist Hospital in Houston and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Wausau Hospital was listed among the top teaching hospitals without a neurology residency program.

No other Wisconsin hospitals were listed.

Stroke is the nation’s third leading cause of death and leading cause of adult disability. In recent years, new medications have become available to effectively treat some cases of acute stroke and prevent major disability.

HCIA-Sachs, now known as Solucient, provides strategic information to payers, providers, employers and others in the health care industry.