Stroke Center Certification and Performance: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Northeast Cerebrovascular Consortium Region.

Background: The NorthEast Cerebrovascular Consortium (NECC) was established in 2006 to improve stroke-systems-of-care models. Methods: This study evaluates the increase in stroke quality over time in NECC and Non-NECC regions, defined as the change in proportion of hospitals over time who received State or National Primary/Comprehensive Stroke Center (PSC/CSC) certification, participated in a national quality program (Get-With-The-Guidelines-Stroke (GWTG-S)), or received GWTG-S Performance Achievement Awards (PAA) from 2005-2013. Analysis of trends was performed (Cochran-Armitage/Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel tests; Generalized-Estimating Equations). As an exploratory analysis eight NECC region Departments of Health (DOH) were surveyed regarding perceptions of the NECC. Results: During the study period, there were 433.1 ± 10.2 vs 3986.4 ± 187.7 hospitals per year in the NECC vs non-NECC regions. Rate of growth per year increased in both groups for each measure but to a greater degree in the NECC vs Non-NECC regions: PSC/CSC (5.4%/yr vs 3.2%/yr), GWTG-S participation (5.0%/yr vs 2.9%/yr), and PAAs (5.2%/yr vs 2.1%/yr), with state-based certification growth also being higher in the NECC region (4.2%/yr vs 0.4%/yr; all comparisons p < 0.0001). After adjusting for year, significantly more NECC hospitals had PSC/CSC certification, GWTG-S participation, and GWTG-S PAAs than non-NECC sites (all analyses p < 0.0001). One hundred percent of NECC region DOHs were aware of the NECC and involved in functions, 87.5% indicated the NECC provided beneficial assistance. Conclusions: There has been a higher rate of growth of state certification contrasted to national PSC/CSC certification, and a higher rate of growth of participation and achievement in GWTG-S in the northeast region compared to other US regions.

Regional implementation of the stroke systems of care model: recommendations of the northeast cerebrovascular consortium.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The Northeast Cerebrovascular Consortium was established to examine regional disparities and recommend strategies to improve stroke care based on the Stroke Systems of Care Model. METHODS: An annual summit was first held in 2006, bringing together public health officials, researchers, physicians, nurses, health professionals, state legislators, and advocacy organizations. Best practices and evidence-based interventions within each of the Stroke Systems of Care Model components were presented. Six writing groups were tasked with cataloging each state's current activities and identifying goals for the region. RESULTS: There were significant variations in the delivery of stroke care, particularly in urban versus rural areas, as evidenced by the availability of designated stroke centers and neurologists, and stroke-related death rates. Recommendations to address variations in care delivery included the use of a common stroke data collection system, unified community education criteria, improvements to emergency medical services dispatch and training, adoption of prehospital care measures, creation of a web-based central repository of acute stroke protocols and order sets, a regional atlas of stroke resources and capabilities, a stroke patient "report card" to promote adherence to secondary prevention strategies, and explicit standards for rehabilitation services. CONCLUSIONS: Significant disparities in the delivery of stroke care across the 8 state-region have been identified. Northeast Cerebrovascular Consortium demonstrates that multistate regional collaboration is a viable process for developing specific regional recommendations to address those disparities. Northeast Cerebrovascular Consortium is assessing the usefulness of the Stroke Systems of Care Model as a framework for implementing a regional approach to stroke across the continuum of care.