Four CoxHealth Hospitals Receive 'Get With The Guidelines®' Awards For Stroke Care

Cox Medical Center Branson, Cox Medical Center South, Cox Monett Hospital and Cox Barton County Hospital have been recognized with “Get With the Guidelines®” awards by the American Heart Association. This recognition is awarded to hospitals that demonstrate a commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.

“This recognition reflects our teams’ commitment to timely, evidence-based stroke care and highlights the collaboration across departments to provide the highest quality care to our community,” says Melissa Sleeth, CoxHealth’s Stroke Center Manager. “Our stroke program is driven by a shared commitment to providing outstanding care to every stroke patient in our community. The collaboration across all of our teams is remarkable and makes this level of care possible.”

CoxHealth’s awards are as follows:

Cox Medical Center Branson’s 2025 Get With the Guidelines® Awards

• Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
• Stroke Rural Gold

Cox Medical Center South’s 2025 Get With the Guidelines® Awards

• Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll

Cox Monett Hospital’s 2025 Get With the Guidelines® Awards

• Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
• Stroke Rural Gold
• Rural Gold Coronary Artery Disease STEMI
• Bronze Coronary Artery Disease STEMI Referring Facility
• Resuscitation Bronze (Adult)
• Resuscitation Target: Survival

Cox Barton County Hospital’s 2025 Get With the Guidelines® Awards

• Stroke Silver Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
• Stroke Rural Gold
• Rural Heart Failure Silver
• Resuscitation Bronze

Cox Medical Center Branson, Cox Medical Center South and Cox Monett Hospital have earned awards from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for several years now. This is the 10th year Branson has received the Gold Plus Award and fifth year with the Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. Cox Monett marks its third year receiving a Gold Plus Award. Cox South has received the Gold Plus Award every year since 2010, while Cox Barton County picked up its first Stroke Rural Gold and first Stroke Silver Plus.

Hospitals are eligible to be recognized by the Get With the Guidelines® awards by demonstrating commitment and achievement in quality improvement across various measurement criteria, ultimately focusing on improvement to patient outcomes, a reduction in recovery times, adherence to established care protocols and more. 

Cox South’s and Cox Branson’s specific designations and targets are also noteworthy. To qualify for the Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll, hospitals must meet specific criteria that reduce the time between an eligible patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment. To qualify for the Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll, hospitals must provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when patients with type 2 diabetes are hospitalized due to stroke or cardiovascular disease.