St. Mary's Health Care System today announced that St. Mary's Hospital in Athens has again earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for Certification in stroke care and treatment of heart failure. St. Mary's has maintained continuous certification in stroke care since 2004 and in heart failure care since 2007.

Disease-specific certification is for Joint Commission-accredited hospitals, critical access hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers seeking to elevate the quality, consistency and safety of their services and patient care.

St. Mary's underwent a rigorous onsite review in April. Joint Commission experts evaluated compliance with advanced disease-specific care standards and requirements for treatment of stroke and heart failure, including quality measures such as door-to-needle time for ischemic stroke patients who receive the clot-busting drug Alteplase and readmission rates for patients with heart failure. Joint Commission certification is valid for two years.

“Achieving certification in these procedures recognizes St. Mary's commitment to provide care in a safe and efficient manner for patients,” said Patrick Phelan, executive director, Hospital Business Development, The Joint Commission. “These certifications will help St. Mary's better provide coordinated and comprehensive care to patients with stroke and heart failure.”

"St. Mary's is pleased to receive continuing certification from The Joint Commission, the premier accrediting body in the nation for health care quality improvement,” said Don McKenna, President and CEO of St. Mary's Health Care System. “The standards they set and best practices they advocate are tremendous assets to our continuing process of improving patient safety and quality of care. The trust and partnerships we have developed with our physicians have significantly contributed to our outstanding success."

In 2004, St. Mary's became the first hospital in North Georgia to receive Joint Commission certification for stroke care. Today the hospital is certified as an advanced primary stroke center, has earned the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Gold Plus Award for stroke care eight years in a row, and is rated as one of America's 100 Best Hospitals for treatment of stroke by Healthgrades.

Heart failure was St. Mary's second Joint Commission specialty certification, first obtained in 2007 – one of the first 25 in America. Today St. Mary's has earned a 5-star rating from Healthgrades for heart failure care, and also for pacemaker procedures, which are one of the most important tools for promoting safety and quality of life for patients with heart failure.

In all, St. Mary's maintains Joint Commission specialty certification in seven specialties: advanced primary stroke center, advanced inpatient diabetes, heart failure, COPD, total knee replacement, total hip replacement, and spine surgery.