Hoag Hospital Irvine has won the American Heart Association/Stroke Association’s Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

Hoag Hospital Irvine earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period.

These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.

The award highlighted the commitment of the hospital’s Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute Stroke Program to provide the best possible care and treatment based on the latest research.

This is the eighth year Hoag has won this award.

tPA Use

The Association praised Hoag for “reducing the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, [which is] the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.”

The “Golden Hour” in medicine refers to the first hour following a stroke or a traumatic injury. It is often referred to as being the most important window in administering treatment for optimal recovery and reducing death and disability as complications.

“Stroke care is advancing rapidly and this award demonstrates Hoag’s commitment” to providing the highest quality patient care, Michael Brant Zawadzki, M.D., the Ron and Sandi Simon Executive Medical Director Endowed Chair of the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute at Hoag, said in a statement.

Ron Simon is a member of this week’s Business Journal OC’s Wealthiest list, with a fortune estimated at $1.25 billion.

Richard Pickup and his family also made the list with an estimated wealth of $625 million. The family donated $15 million to the hospital in 2017 for the institute.

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