New Hanover Regional Medical Center recently received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus.

The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment and success in ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, a news release said.

To receive the award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures.

NHRMC’s composite score for all measures was 98.5 percent, officials said.

To qualify for the Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus, hospitals must meet 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.

Hospitals earned the award by achieving an arrival to treatment time of less than 60 minutes in 75 percent of acute ischemic stroke cases, and arrival to treatment time in less than 45 minutes in 50 percent of acute ischemic cases.

NHRMC’s median arrival to treatment time is 34 minutes.

NHRMC has also met specific scientific guidelines as a Primary Stroke Center.