Cox Branson recognized as a national leader in treatment of stroke, heart attack

Submitted to Branson Globe

For the seventh year in a row, Cox Medical Center Branson has been recognized for excellence in stroke care.

The hospital received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s 2022 Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award and Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Elite Plus. Cox Branson earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients. These measures include proper use of medications with the goal of speeding up recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. The stroke team also reduced the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tPA, which is the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. The Cox Branson stroke team broke its own record in 2022 with a door-to-needle time of only 17 minutes.

The medical center additionally received the Association’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award for excellence in overall diabetes cardiovascular care when it comes to stroke prevention.

“It continues to be such an honor to lead our stroke program here at CMCB,” says Lacy Cox, Stroke Center Coordinator at Cox Branson. “The hard work and dedication from each key employee contributes greatly to this amazing achievement. Not only are we reducing door to needle times and hitting benchmark goals, we are identifying and treating strokes in an exceptional timeframe.”

Cox says patient outcomes are greatly impacted when her team continues to excel.

“Millions of brain cells are saved each minute, and patients are walking out of here more often post stroke, than being discharged to long-term care or other facilities,” she says. “Our achievement exemplifies CoxHealth’s vision: To Be the Best for Those Who Need Us. I feel this award is only a small glimpse of our wonderful hospital’s results and being the best for our community.”

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Cox Branson has received one of the American College of Cardiology’s highest honors for the third straight year for excellence in heart care.

The medical center received the NCDR Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2022, one of only 240 hospitals nationwide to receive it.

The awards go to programs who have evidence of delivering the highest quality of cardiovascular care to transform heart health in their communities. To receive the platinum status, facilities must perform at the top level of standards in specific performance measures for eight consecutive quarters. These specific performance measures are set forth by the registry.

“We are so proud of the national recognition and to be among the best hospitals in the country for heart care,” says Rachel Stone, STEMI Coordinator at Cox Branson. “This award recognizes our commitment and success in putting best practices to work each day to improve outcomes for cardiovascular patients and their overall health and well-being. It is an honor to work for a facility that supports these efforts.”