Deans' stroke musings: Life-saving role of mobile stroke units at risk due to reimbursement limitations

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Monday, March 15, 2021

Life-saving role of mobile stroke units at risk due to reimbursement limitations

From my perspective this is a good thing since they are no better than in hospital for getting 100% recovered. They might need to implement these much much faster options and get neurologists out of the picture.

Time is Brain, you know.

Maybe you want these much faster objective diagnosis options.

Hats off to Helmet of Hope - stroke diagnosis in 30 seconds; February 2017

Microwave Imaging for Brain Stroke Detection and Monitoring using High Performance Computing in 94 seconds March 2017

New Device Quickly Assesses Brain Bleeding in Head Injuries - 5-10 minutes April 2017

Ski-Mask Design AIR Coil Offers Whole-Brain Imaging Without Claustrophobia

Blood Biomarkers to Differentiate Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Strokes Might Allow Prehospital Thrombolysis

The latest here:

Life-saving role of mobile stroke units at risk due to reimbursement limitations

American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference – Presentation MP19

Research Highlights:

Mobile stroke units — ambulances equipped to provide rapid stroke diagnosis and treatment — report financial difficulties due to limited reimbursement from health care insurers.
Nearly all mobile stroke units in the United States indicate they depend upon private gifts, grants or institutional support for funding.

Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET Thursday, March 11, 2021

DALLAS, March 11, 2021 — Ambulances with specialized staff and equipment to provide rapid stroke treatment report financial difficulties due to limited reimbursement from health care insurers, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2021. The virtual meeting is March 17-19, 2021 and is a world premier meeting for researchers and clinicians dedicated to the science of stroke and brain health.

According to the most recent comprehensive data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and a major contributor to long-term disability. Stroke occurs when a blood vessel to or in the brain either becomes blocked or bursts, preventing blood and oxygen from reaching all of the brain. Treatment to quickly restore blood flow to the brain is essential to improve outcomes and survival.

Mobile stroke units are ambulances with specialized staff and equipment to quickly diagnose and treat stroke on the way to the hospital. When every minute is critical, the mobile stroke unit staff can administer medications to restore blood flow, control bleeding or lower high blood pressure before reaching the emergency department. However, mobile stroke units are not widely available, in part because there are no established means for the government or insurance companies to reimburse the costs of care provided by mobile stroke units, especially when specialized tests (CT scans, etc.) and medications are administered outside of a hospital.

“If mobile stroke units cannot be reimbursed for the important care they provide, this vital service will be lost unless private donors are willing to continually step up to support these programs,” said study lead author Kenneth Reichenbach, M.S.N., F.N.P.-C., A.G.A.C.N.P.-B.C., B.S.R.T.-(R), PHRN, program director of the Mobile Stroke Unit at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “We need overwhelming, united support for this to change within federal entities including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to explore appropriate pathways for Medicare reimbursement for the full range of advanced mobile stroke unit services.”

Through a blinded survey, researchers collected information in June 2019 (to reflect the previous 12 months of their operation) from all 20 U.S. mobile stroke unit programs. Of the 19 units that responded, 18 reported negative financial status while one, classified as an outpatient clinic and not an ambulance, reported a positive financial status. All mobile stroke programs depend at least partly on funding from personal gifts, grants or institutional support because of billing restrictions from health care insurers.

In other findings, the programs reported administering critical clot-busting medications to stroke patients an average of 72 times per year (median of 30) over the 12 months surveyed for all mobile stroke unit programs combined. Each program is open and available nearly every day of the month, with 600 responses per year, on average, for all programs combined. All mobile stroke units can perform CT scans (computed tomography) to image the brain, and 21% have an additional certification as certified CT mobile laboratories. Each mobile stroke unit has an average of four staff members on board at a time, which may include a CT technologist, paramedic/emergency medical technician, stroke nurse and a stroke expert. Individuals working as stroke experts vary by program: 37% have medical doctors and 16% have an advanced practice health care professional. In 47% of the programs, telemedicine is used instead of an on-board expert to connect remotely to a stroke expert.

“Mobile stroke units diagnose and treat patients with acute stroke safely and considerably faster than patients arriving to an emergency department by regular ambulance or private auto,” Reichenbach said. “Saving brain tissue could translate into better functional outcome and quality of life for many more stroke patients.”

The American Heart Association’s 2019 Recommendations for the Establishment of Stroke Systems of Care suggests reimbursement is an issue that warrants further investigation before there is widespread use of mobile stroke units.

To recognize stroke symptoms requiring immediate treatment, the American Stroke Association recommends everyone remember the acronym F.A.S.T. for face drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty, time to call 9-1-1. Fortunately, most strokes are preventable through healthy lifestyle choices: not smoking; eating healthy foods; being physically active; maintaining a healthy body weight; and controlling high blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure.

Co-authors are Claranne Mathiesen, R.N., M.S.N., C.N.R.N.; Leslie Thomas, A.A.; Margaret Hilger, B.A.; James C. Grotta, M.D.; and Anne W. Alexandrov, Ph.D., R.N. Author disclosures are listed in the abstract.

The Prehospital Stroke Treatment Organization (PRESTO) funded the study.

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