EvergreenHealth receives stroke care certification

The hospital system was able to demonstrate quality care and an advanced stroke program

EvergreenHealth announced today it has received Primary Plus Stroke Center (PSC+) Certification from DNV GL Healthcare, a world-leading certification body for hospitals and health systems.

To be recognized with PSC+ status, health systems like EvergreenHealth must demonstrate excellence within a range of quality and safety requirements. Organizations must go beyond the requirements for its primary stroke program, which considers staffing levels and ensures certified health systems have the infrastructure and expertise to stabilize and treat most emergent stroke patients.

PSC+ organizations are held to state-of-the-art standards for thrombectomy, the procedure to remove blood clots that cause strokes, care for hemorrhagic (bleeding) strokes and management of brain aneurysms.

“We are thrilled to be recognized and accredited by DNV GL Healthcare for our commitment to providing the highest-quality stroke care to our Kirkland community,” David Likosky, the Executive Medical Director at EvergreenHealth Neuroscience Institute, stated in a release. “Successful stroke care involves so many of our departments who work together to follow our innovative and team-based stroke care protocols. I’m so proud of all our providers and clinicians who made this certification possible and who are dramatically improving the lives of our patients.”

DNV GL Healthcare is a world-leading certification body with objectives to safeguard life, property and the environment. The organization is committed to supporting the development and continual improvement of health care quality and patient safety.

The certification process is a survey approach that looks at respective services and processes within health systems and applies two different standards to each.

Providers can precisely identify critical blockages, aneurysms or malformations in the vessels of the brain, and treat them on the spot thanks to specialized stroke care equipment at EvergreenHealth. That machinery allows EvergreenHealth to provide advanced stroke care, making this level of certification possible.

In addition to being recognized for patient safety and quality in stroke care by DNV GL Healthcare, EvergreenHealth has also been recognized by Healthgrades for its commitment to stroke services. EvergreenHealth has ranked among the nation’s top 100 hospitals for stroke care for 11 consecutive years.

To learn more about EvergreenHealth Stroke Services, visit evergreenhealth.com/stroke.