Researchers Hope Measuring Performance Will Improve Stroke Care and Prevention

Abstract

A REGISTRY DESIGNED TO COLLECT and share hospital performance data can improve stroke care, a new study suggests. But the advancementssofarhaveappearedonlyinselected areas,leavingthoseinvolvedinstrokecare and prevention still with plenty to do. The study, released November 6 by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), focused on the statebased Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry, which measures 10 performance metrics representative of quality stroke care. The analysis found that participating hospitals during 20052007, compared with the 2001-2004 prototype phase, substantially improved their rates of antithrombotic therapy prescribed at discharge, smoking cessation counseling, lipid testing, and dysphagia screening. However, the frequency of delivery of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) to eligible patients and of transport of patients to the hospital by emergency medical services (EMS) remained stubbornly low (George MG et al. MMWR Surveill Summ. 2009;58[7]:1-23). Mary G. George, MD, MSPH, medical officer with the CDC’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention and lead author of the study, said the findings show the registry is meeting its intended goals. “The registry allows hospitals to work together to share ways to improve the quality of care,” George said. The Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry (named for the US Senator from Georgia who died in 2000 following a cerebral hemorrhage) is a cooperative agreement, begun in 2001, between the CDC and various state health departments. It is designed to collect state-based data that reflect facilities’ adherence to guidelines for fast andeffective stroke treatment. These data can then be used to guide interventions