The 2010 legislation, codified in requires participating hospitals to in “participate internal, as well as regional, quality improvement It also requires activities.” in a national, state, or local data collection system that measures cardiac “participation and stroke system performance from patient onset of symptoms to treatment or intervention, and includes, at a minimum, the nationally recognized consensus measures for stroke.” The legislation did not include authority or funding to establish a state data collection system. Together with our many partners in the ECS System, we have instead leveraged existing data collection resources and quality improvement initiatives to evaluate the existing indicators. Many hospitals are participating system’s impact using directly or indirectly in Get With the Guidelines for stroke (GWTG-S), the ACTION-Get With the Guidelines Registry (AR-G) for heart attack, and the Washington Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival for cardiac arrest. The Department of Health can use aggregate reports from these sources to evaluate the ECS System. The law also amended the EMS and Trauma System law to expand the scope of the EMS and Trauma Regional Quality Improvement (QI) programs to allow protected discussion and evaluation of regional cardiac and stroke systems and care delivery. All of the Regional QI programs have incorporated cardiac and stroke evaluation to some degree. Participating hospitals should send their cardiac and stroke coordinators to these meetings along with the trauma coordinators. How long is the categorization period? Three years. Can we change our categorization level? Yes, you can apply to change your level anytime. Request a current application from the department contact listed below. What if we no longer want to participate in the system? You can withdraw at any time. Send written notice to the department contact listed below. What if we no longer meet the categorization criteria? Notify the department as soon as your status changes, and send written notice to the department contact. Department Contact: Matt Nelson, 360-236-2816 Matt.Nelson@doh.wa.gov Department of Health Office of Community Health Systems Attn: Matt Nelson
The 2010 legislation, codified in requires participating hospitals to “participate in internal, as well as regional, quality improvement activities.” It also requires “participation in a national, state, or local data collection system that measures cardiac and stroke system performance from patient onset of symptoms to treatment or intervention, and includes, at a minimum, the nationally recognized consensus measures for stroke.” The legislation did not include authority or funding to establish a state data collection system. Together with our many partners in the ECS System, we have instead leveraged existing data collection resources and quality improvement initiatives to evaluate the system’s impact using existing indicators. Many hospitals are participating directly or indirectly in Get With the Guidelines for stroke (GWTG-S), the ACTION-Get With the Guidelines Registry (AR-G) for heart attack, and the Washington Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival for cardiac arrest. The Department of Health can use aggregate reports from these sources to evaluate the ECS System. The law also amended the EMS and Trauma System law to expand the scope of the EMS and Trauma Regional Quality Improvement (QI) programs to allow protected discussion and evaluation of regional cardiac and stroke systems and care delivery. All of the Regional QI programs have incorporated cardiac and stroke evaluation to some degree. Participating hospitals should send their cardiac and stroke coordinators to these meetings along with the trauma coordinators. How long is the categorization period? Three years. Can we change our categorization level? Yes, you can apply to change your level anytime. Request a current application from the department contact listed below. What if we no longer want to participate in the system? You can withdraw at any time. Send written notice to the department contact listed below. What if we no longer meet the categorization criteria? Notify the department as soon as your status changes, and send written notice to the department contact. Department Contact: Matt Nelson, 360-236-2816 Matt.Nelson@doh.wa.gov Department of Health Office of Community Health Systems Attn: Matt Nelson
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