WAUKESHA, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (GE), announced today, in collaboration with Saint Lukes Neuroscience Institute (SLNI) in Kansas City, Mo., the first healthymagination care area validation for stroke. This distinction means that SNLIs stroke program contributes to GEs goal to improve access to and quality of healthcare by 15 percent. Evidence verified by external independent experts at Oxford Analytica shows that SNLIs program for coordinated use of people, process and technologyits stroke solutionyields better patient outcomes. Through this validation, Saint Lukes is designated this first healthymagination stroke solution site in the world. The SNLI Stroke Solution joins GEs more than 60 innovations currently healthymagination validated.
To establish Saint Lukes as a healthymagination solution site, GE Healthcare applied the same rigorous process it uses to validate its own innovations potential to improve quality of, increase access to or lower the cost of care. For this validation, the team evaluated treatment, access and outcomes among Saint Lukes stroke patients compared to national benchmarks for other stroke centers and hospitals.
Treatment
The SLNI Stroke Solution uses tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) therapy as a treatment. Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is currently the only U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved therapy for acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Despite being widely available since 1996, it is still significantly underutilized. In 2009, tPA treatment rates were reportedly a meager 3.4 - 5.2 percent, though this represents a doubling since 20051. The validation process uncovered that SLNI Stroke Solution provided significantly improved treatment using tPA therapy, with rates three to six times higher than national averages.
Access
Imaging is a critical step in accurate diagnosis of stroke. Saint Lukes data showed that 99 percent of SNLI stroke patients undergo a CT scan to assess the patient compared to 60 percent at other U.S. community hospitals. This access to appropriate technology ensures no delays in diagnosis in an acute setting and hence appropriate and timely use of interventions, which when used earlier have been shown to lead to better patient outcomes.
St. Lukes also implemented key programmatic initiatives to drive excellence in stroke care, including: extensive efforts to increase public and professional awareness and education; twenty-four-seven access to stroke expertise and technology for patients living within 150 miles of the Center; standardized order sets and care paths; interventional stroke reversal protocols to extend the treatment window; cutting-edge imaging; and much more. These initiatives increased access to
1 Adeoye O, Hornung R, Khatri P, Kleindorfer D. Recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator use for ischemic stroke in the United States: a doubling of treatment rates over the course of 5 years. Stroke. Jul 2011;42(7):1952-1955.
treatment at SLNIa primary certified stroke centershowing a 23 percent increase in patient volume from 2005-2010.
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Saint Luke’s Neuroscience Institute’s Stroke Program Found to Substantially Improve Access to Care and Drive Better ...