FOUR PROGRAM LEVELS

Stroke Care Certification

Maximizing your patient care excellence.

I AM:

New to Accreditation

New to ACHC

ACHC-Accredited

Welcome

For stroke patients, time is brain. ACHC Certification Standards serve as a framework to improve the coordination of care that is essential to minimizing those critical minutes. Our most recent report reviewing quality benchmarks shows that ACHC-certified stroke centers provide care that aligns with or improves on nationally-recognized performance metrics.

Across ACHC programs, our staff and surveyors are singularly focused on customer service. Please reach out to certification@achc.org with questions about selection the right certification option for your program.

Read the Report

The overall process is very easy to go through… Assistance [with] standard clarification is extremely helpful and very timely. I would like to also state the virtual learning sessions where coordinators discuss projects and areas of difficulties in a non-punitive setting has been extremely beneficial and I hope that it continues as a standardized process.

- Swedish Hospital (IL)

Our surveyor was amazing…She was able to provide very concrete evidence for solutions to our problems and it motivated our team to continue working hard to achieve our goals and ambitions for our stroke center.

- Hemet Global Medical Center (CA)

The survey was a wonderful learning experience. [Surveyor name] provided positive feedback and assisted us to identify areas of opportunity to achieve our goal of providing excellent care to our stroke patients.

- Kettering Health (OH)

Certification vs Accreditation

These terms often are used interchangeably. A hospital seeks accreditation to achieve or maintain CMS certification. However, ACHC makes a distinction: Accreditation is the result of a comprehensive review of an entire organization while certification is based on review of an individual program within an organization.

We further differentiate Stroke Care Certification using the hospital’s capacity to meet more demanding standards. A smaller organization—a critical access hospital, for example—may provide initial diagnosis and treatment followed by immediate transfer to a facility with more resources. In this example, the first hospital may opt for Stroke Ready Certification.

A hospital with a fully staffed neurosurgical department would be eligible for Comprehensive Stroke Certification, and there are two levels in-between. Your Stroke Care Certification level guides local emergency services providers in directing patients and communicates your capabilities to your community.

Stroke Certification Options

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Stroke Ready

For centers that collaborate with community emergency services to meet the initial needs of stroke patients

Primary Stroke

For centers that stabilize and treat acute stroke through administration of tPA and other therapies.

Thrombectomy Ready

For centers that have the capacity to perform this procedure for ischemic stroke patients

Comprehensive Stroke

For centers offering advanced treatment through neurology, neurosurgery, and neuroradiology

Staff in ACHC-certified stroke centers are invited to participate in quarterly teleconferences to share best practices and problem-solve with peers. Led by ACHC program staff, each practice sharing session includes a presentation from a certified hospital focused on a success story and concludes with open Q&A.

Benchmarking Quality, a publication reviewing ACHC-certified stroke program results on 2025 performance metrics is available now.

ACHC Resources

To get you to the most frequently needed information, choose a link below.

Regulatory Updates

Publications

Education

Vendor Partners