Key result
Telestroke adoption shows no association with decreased AIS transfer rates.
Why the study?
Telestroke can increase access to stroke expertise, but the characteristics of communities served by adopting hospitals and the impact on transfer rates remained to be evaluated.
Does telestroke adoption decrease acute ischemic stroke transfer rates in adopting hospitals?
Population
103 spoke hospitals in seven states adopting telestroke from 2010-2024
Comparison
Two years post-adoption vs two years pre-adoption
Design
Retrospective cohort study using academic network and Medicare claims data
Follow-up
Two years post-adoption
Authors
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Telestroke adoption was not associated with reduced transfers; leaves open its net effects on stroke networks in lower-resourced settings.
Does telestroke adoption decrease acute ischemic stroke transfer rates in adopting hospitals?
Telestroke adoption in academic hub-and-spoke networks was not associated with an overall decrease in acute ischemic stroke transfer rates, though individual hospital rates varied widely.
Kelly et al. (2026) studied this question. Telestroke adoption was not associated with decreased transfer rates, which varied from -20% to +18% in hospitals over two years post-adoption.
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