Seamless Integrated Stroke Telemedicine Systems of Care

See related article, pages 1626–1630Although there still remains some work to be performed refining the operations of regional stroke networks designed to maximize intravenous thrombolysis eligibility and administration for patients with acute ischemic stroke,1 Prabhakaran et al2 have embarked on necessary research exploring the next level of sophistication—early determination of eligibility for endovascular therapies and the interhospital communication, which is required. Delay in hospital-to-hospital transfer is a common reason that patients with acute ischemic stroke are excluded from interventional therapy. The authors concluded that the likelihood of receiving intra-arterial treatment decreased rapidly in response to an increased transfer time. They propose that specific goals for transfer time be considered in future quality standards for …