Abstract 265: TeleStroke: Expanding Access and Coordination of Care from Acute Stroke to Follow-up [Session Title: Poster Session II]

The objective of this study was to develop a novel pathway for follow-up care after inpatient admissions for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) utilizing the existing telestroke infrastructure, with the goals of improving quality outcomes, reducing patient costs, and increasing access to care.Methods: Utilizing LEAN methodology, the existing care model was process-mapped to assess for potential areas of improvement. Over one month in 2013, a convenience sample of 27 inpatients admitted with AIS were surveyed to assess for potential barriers associated with travel to appointments, as well as for attitudes towards utilizing tele-health technologies for follow-up care. We analyzed primary residence patient zip-codes to determine which communities might be optimal for tele-health follow-up visits.Results: Ten patients (37%) lived ≤50 miles from UUMC; 7 (26%) 51-100 miles; 8 (30%)101-500 miles; and 2 (7.4%) > 500 miles away. Patients estimated the costs associated with a visit (excluding appointment fees) as: $0-9 (3.8%), $10-100 (42.3%), $101-500 (38.5%), $501-1000 (11.5%), and >$1000 (3.8%). Twenty-two patients (88%) said they would be interested in a tele-followup visit if it were closer to home and/or reduced travel time, and 59% of respondents said they would actually prefer this option to an in-office visit. Due to these results, an ideal community clinic partner was identified based upon geographic patient demographics, existing tele-health infrastructure, university-base...

Source: Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes - June 2, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Hannon, P. M., Austin, J., McCauley, M. J., Smith, D., Smith, A. G., Salari, A., Majersik, J. J. Tags: Session Title: Poster Session II Source Type: research