1. Regional Intervention of Stroke Care to Increase Thrombolytic Therapy for Acute Ischemic Stroke.
- Author
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Damani RH, Anand S, Asgarisabet P, Bissell C, Savitz S, and Suarez JI
- Subjects
- Aged, Brain Ischemia economics, Brain Ischemia epidemiology, Cost Savings methods, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Retrospective Studies, Single-Blind Method, Stroke economics, Stroke epidemiology, Texas epidemiology, Thrombolytic Therapy economics, Time-to-Treatment economics, Tissue Plasminogen Activator economics, Brain Ischemia drug therapy, Stroke drug therapy, Thrombolytic Therapy methods, Thrombolytic Therapy standards, Time-to-Treatment standards, Tissue Plasminogen Activator administration & dosage
- Abstract
Background and Purpose- The aims of this study were to investigate the effect of an intervention to unblind data on r-tPA (recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator) administration and sharing data with chief executive officers of participating hospitals, on r-tPA administration rates postintervention and on potential healthcare cost savings implemented at 26 Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council hospitals. Methods- Retrospective analysis of prospective data on thrombolytic therapy from 26 Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council hospitals, collected between April 2014 and June 2016. The control (blinded) period (Q2-2014 to Q2-2015) was followed by unblinding (Q3-2015). Results- Intervention was associated with 21.1% increase in r-tPA administration rates, with 38.5% increase in r-tPA administration with door-to-needle time ≤60 minutes. An absolute increase in r-tPA administration of 2.1% was seen with an average lifetime cost savings of $3.6 million. Conclusions- Transparent regional data sharing was associated with improved r-tPA administration and healthcare cost savings.
- Published
- 2018
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