HCA Healthcare/HealthONE’s The Medical Center of Aurora Receives Get

With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award

Aurora, CO, August 22, 2018 --(PR.com)-- Healthcare/HealthONE's The Medical Center of Aurora
(TMCA) has once again received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Get
With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the
hospital's commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to
nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

The Medical Center of Aurora 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. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their
health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

“At The Medical Center of Aurora, our stroke team is dedicated to delivering the highest quality of care
for our stroke patients by implementing the AHA's Get With The Guidelines Stroke initiative,” said Dr.
Alan Aboaf, Physician Chair of the Quality Committee at The Medical Center of Aurora and Spalding
Rehabilitation Hospital. “Our tools and resources help our team track and measure our success in meeting
evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”

Dr. Alicia Bennett, a neurologist with Blue Sky Neurology and head of TMCA's stroke team agrees. “I
am extremely proud of the work that our multidisciplinary stroke team does every day as we care for
stroke patients coming into our ER,” she said. “Expeditious treatment is critical for a patient who is
having a stroke, because as research has long shown, the faster we get tPA on board, the greater the
chance of survival and hopefully fewer long term side effects.”

The Medical Center of Aurora additionally received the association's Target: StrokeElite Plus award. To
qualify for this recognition, TMCA met quality measures developed to reduce the time between the
patient's arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the
only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.

“We are pleased to recognize The Medical Center of Aurora for their commitment to stroke care,” said
Eric E. Smith, M.D., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and an
associate professor of neurology at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. “Research has shown
that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement
initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of
death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers
a stroke every 40 seconds and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

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The Medical Center of Aurora has been part of the Get With The Guidelines program since 2005 and has
received a Stroke Award or Mission Lifeline Award, at various levels, every year. To learn more about
TMCA's award-winning care, please visit AuroraMed.com.

About The Medical Center of Aurora

The Medical Center of Aurora, the first community hospital in the Denver Metro area to receive two-time
Magnet designation for nursing excellence by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), is a
346-bed acute care hospital located in Aurora, Colorado. The Medical Center of Aurora is comprised of
six campuses in Aurora and Centennial, Colo., including the South Campus, located at Interstate 225 and
Mississippi, the North Campus Behavioral Health and Wellness Center, Centennial Medical Plaza, Saddle
Rock ER, Spalding Rehabilitation Hospital, Spalding Rehabilitation at P/SL, and a medical office
building at Green Valley Ranch. The South Campus facility is a Level II Trauma Center with Primary
Stroke Certification and Chest Pain Center accreditation, and has an affiliation with Rocky Mountain
Hospital for Children. The Medical Center of Aurora received 'A' grades from The Leapfrog Group (Fall
2015, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017), was Colorado's only hospital to receive the Leapfrog Top
General Hospital designation two years in a row (2016, 2017), and was recognized as the #4 hospital in
the Denver metro area and the #4 hospital in Colorado by U.S. News & World Report (2014-2015,
2017-2018). The Medical Center of Aurora and its affiliated campuses are part of the HealthONE System.
Learn more at AuroraMed.com.

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 tools and resources to increase
adherence to 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 6 million patients since 2001. For
more information, visit heart.org.

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Contact Information:
The Medical Center of Aurora
Laura Stephens
303-591-5635
Contact via Email
www.AuroraMed.com

Online Version of Press Release:

You can read the online version of this press release at: https://www.pr.com/press-release/762792

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