Stroke Care
Joint Commission – Comprehensive Stroke Center (2022-2024)
Recognized as an industry leader in providing advanced stroke care, Mercy Hospital of Buffalo has been named a Comprehensive Stroke Center by The Joint Commission, the nation’s leading accrediting body for hospitals and health providers.
Offered in collaboration with the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, this advanced certification recognizes an elite group of hospitals that have highly specialized staff, equipment and facilities to treat the most complex stroke cases.
Mercy Hospital is the only hospital in Western New York to earn this special designation.
U.S. News & World Report High Performing Hospital for Stroke Care (2023-2024)
The Comprehensive Stroke Center at Mercy Hospital of Buffalo is nationally recognized as one of the best hospitals for stroke care. U.S. News & World Report named Mercy Hospital of Buffalo a “High Performing” hospital for 2023-2024 in stroke care.
New York State Department of Health – Designated Stroke Center (since 2007)
Stroke Center Designation assures patients that Mercy Hospital meets the State’s stringent guidelines for stroke care. This includes being seen by a physician within 15 minutes of arrival in the ER; receiving a CT scan within 25 minutes; interpretation of CT results in 45 minutes; lab results in 45 minutes; and clot busting drugs within 60 minutes of arrival or 3 hours of symptom onset and catheter-based techniques than enable treatment up to 8 hours from symptom onset.
American Heart Association Gold Plus Quality Achievement Awards for Stroke Care (Since 2013)
For the eleventh consecutive year, Mercy Hospital’s Stroke Center earned American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s “Get with the Guidelines” Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award and Target: Honor Roll Elite Plus, the AHA’s highest level of hospital recognition.
Mercy Hospital achieved the Stroke Gold Plus Award by meeting and exceeding designated quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients for a period of 24 consecutive months. These measures include the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments, with the goal of speeding recovery and achieving the best outcomes. The Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus Award recognizes the hospital’s quality achievements in reducing the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with clot-busting tPA (tissue plasminogen activator), the only drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic strokes.
Additionally, Mercy Hospital received the Association’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll Award which recognizes the hospital’s targeted approach to providing quality care for patients with type 2 diabetes, a special at-risk population to develop cardiovascular disease (CVD) that is a major cause of heart attacks and stroke.