Nationally recognized award celebrates Jefferson Health’s commitment to providing high-quality stroke and cardiovascular care.
PHILADELPHIA, August 6, 2025 – Jefferson Health received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke Gold Plus quality achievement award for its commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized research-based guidelines. Adhering to these proven practices leads to more lives saved, reduced long-term disability, shorter recovery times, and fewer readmissions to the hospital.
Heart disease and stroke are the number one and number five causes of death in the United States, respectively, according to the American Heart Association. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood and oxygen it needs, causing brain cells die. The term “time is brain” refers to the nearly two million brain cells that are lost every minute when stroke is untreated. That’s why immediate treatment is essential to increasing survival and reducing long-term disability.
Get With The Guidelines® puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals across the country helping ensure that high-quality care is given to patients experiencing a stroke or cardiac disease. Every year, program participants qualify for awards by demonstrating how their organization has committed to improving care.
“This recognition from the American Heart Association affirms the dedication on the part of our clinical teams to improving health outcomes for patients experiencing a stroke or heart disease by applying these proven practices,” says Baligh R. Yehia, MD, MPP, MSc, FACP, President, Jefferson Health and Executive Vice President, Jefferson. “Across Jefferson, clinicians are on the front lines providing quick emergency responses, administering lifesaving clot-busting drugs, performing advanced surgeries and providing immediate treatment prior to hospitalization in our mobile stroke units. Our focus is also on preventive care, helping people manage or avoid diabetes and other conditions that can cause a stroke or heart disease.”
The following is a list of all Jefferson Health awards with their specific targets. To qualify, hospitals must meet specific criteria. This includes Target: Stroke Award for reducing the time between an eligible patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with thrombolytic therapy; Stroke Honor Roll Advanced Therapy Award for meeting specific criteria that reduces the time between an eligible patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment to remove the clot causing the stroke; Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll Award for ensuring patients with type 2 diabetes, who might be at higher risk for complications, receive the most up-to-date evidence-based care when hospitalized due to stroke; and Heart Failure Awards for demonstrating a commitment to reducing readmissions and increasing healthy days at home.
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Target: Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll
Jefferson Torresdale Hospital
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Coronary Artery Disease: Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Coronary Artery Disease: Gold Plus Receiving
Stroke: Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Target: Stroke Honor Roll
Heart Failure Award: Bronze
Jefferson Abington Hospital
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Get With The Guidelines® Coronary Artery Disease: Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Coronary Artery Disease: Gold Plus Receiving
Heart Failure Award: Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Heart Failure Award: Target: Heart Failure Optimal Honor Roll
Heart Failure Award: Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll
Jefferson Lansdale Hospital
Coronary Artery Disease Award: Silver Referring
Stroke Award: Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Stroke Award: Target Stroke Elite Honor Roll
Stroke Award: Silver Plus
Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll
Jefferson Einstein Montgomery Hospital
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll
Jefferson Methodist Hospital
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Jefferson Washington Township Hospital
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll
Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Jefferson Stratford Hospital
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Get With The Guidelines® Heart Failure Award: Participating
Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Target: Stroke Advanced Therapy Honor Roll
Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll
Lehigh Valley Hospital–Hecktown Oaks
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Lehigh Valley Hospital–Schuylkill
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll
Rural Bronze
Lehigh Valley Hospital–Hazleton
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll
Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll
Lehigh Valley Hospital–Pocono
Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll
“Our clinicians at the Vickie & Jack Farber Institute for Neuroscience are helping improve lives through groundbreaking research and clinical expertise, and we’re honored that their hard work and achievements are being recognized by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association,” says Robert H. Rosenwasser, MD, DSc, MBA, FACS, FAHA, Jewell L. Osterholm, MD, Professor of Neurological Surgery, and President/CEO of the Vickie & Jack Farber Institute for Neuroscience.
Jefferson Health is committed to providing the highest quality stroke and cardiovascular care to patients to save lives and reduce disability. Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals/Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience is a Comprehensive Stroke Center along with Jefferson Abington Hospital, Jefferson Washington Township Hospital, and Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest. Thrombectomy Stroke Capable hospitals are Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital, Jefferson Einstein Montgomery Hospital, and Jefferson Torresdale Hospital. Hospitals designated Primary Stroke Centers include Jefferson Methodist Hospital, Jefferson Bucks Hospital, Jefferson Lansdale Hospital, Jefferson Stratford Hospital, Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital, Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg, Lehigh Valley Hospital–Pocono, Lehigh Valley Hospital–Hazleton, Lehigh Valley Hospital–Schuylkill, and Lehigh Valley Hospital–Hecktown Oaks.
About Get With The Guidelines®
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 14 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.
About Jefferson
Jefferson is reimagining health care and higher education to create unparalleled value throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. More than 65,000 people strong, Jefferson is dedicated to providing high-quality, compassionate clinical care for patients; making our communities healthier and stronger; preparing tomorrow’s professional leaders for 21st-century careers; and creating new knowledge through basic/programmatic, clinical and applied research. Thomas Jefferson University, home of Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Jefferson College of Nursing, and the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce, dates back to 1824 and today comprises 10 colleges and three schools offering 200+ undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 8,300 students. Jefferson Health, nationally ranked as one of the top 15 not-for-profit health care systems in the country and the largest provider in the Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley areas, serves patients through millions of encounters each year at 32 hospital campuses and more than 700 outpatient and urgent care locations throughout the region. Jefferson Health Plans, through Health Partners Plans, Inc., is a not-for-profit managed health care organization offering a broad range of health coverage options to more than 370,000 members for more than 35 years.
Information provided to TVL by:
Priscilla Turbitt
