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Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center receives Primary Stroke Center certification from the Joint Commission

Kaiser Permanente’s South Sacramento Medical Center, which serves more than 194,000 members in the South Sacramento and Elk Grove areas, has been recognized for excellence in stroke care, recently earning Primary Stroke Center Certification from the Joint Commission.

The designation confirms that the hospital has a highly trained “stroke team” with standardized procedures in place to diagnose and treat stroke patients quickly and effectively. The South Sacramento Medical Center, which cared for 336 stroke patients last year, received a two-year certification following an on-site review earlier this year from the independent Joint Commission, the nation’s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.

Kaiser Permanente’s Sacramento and Roseville Medical Centers received Primary Stroke Center Certification from the Joint Commission last year. As licensed community hospitals, all of Kaiser Permanente’s emergency departments – where many stroke patients are initially cared for – are open to both members and non-members.

Joint Commission certification demonstrates compliance with national standards, established clinical practice guidelines to manage care of stroke patients, and an organized approach to measure performance and improvement. The South Sacramento Stroke Center also hosted a community stroke expo in the summer.

"We are pleased to add our South Sacramento Medical Center to the growing list of Kaiser Permanente medical centers that have been certified as Primary Stroke Centers by the Joint Commission," said John Bissell, MD, a neurologist and medical director of the South Sacramento Stroke Center. “Kaiser Permanente aims to provide the best possible care for people who suffer a stroke, and more importantly, ensure that we minimize the risk of stroke by implementing comprehensive preventative health programs. We possess a unique integration between our clinical care programs and prevention efforts that will make stroke prevention a reality."

Stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen to or in the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. Experts say with a stroke, time lost is brain lost, because the longer the brain goes without oxygen, the greater the chances of disability or death. An estimated 700,000 U.S. residents have new or recurrent strokes each year, and more than 150,000 of them die; 5.7 million Americans are stroke survivors and stroke is the third leading cause of death and a leading cause of serious, long-term disability, according to the American Heart Association.