Get Ahead of Stroke Campaign Announces Tennessee Legislation to Improve Stroke Care

April 3, 2018—The Get Ahead of Stroke public education and advocacy campaign—an initiative of the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS)—announced that the Tennessee legislature passed a bill that will improve the way first responders triage and transport severe stroke patients across the state. The measure will help reduce disability and death, as well as lower the immense costs associated with long-term health care. Stroke is a leading cause of death in Tennessee. The bill is awaiting Governor Bill Haslam’s signature to take effect July 1, 2018.

The legislation directs emergency medical service (EMS) organizations to establish protocols for prehospital assessment, treatment, and transport of stroke patients by coordinating with hospitals to best address patients' needs. These protocols would include education for responders in how to identify severe stroke patients who are experiencing an emergent large vessel occlusion (ELVO). Similar to how EMS personnel triage trauma patients, the new legislation is designed to help educate first responders about properly assessing stroke severity in the field and transporting severe ischemic stroke patients to the proper facilities.

As noted in the announcement, patients with an ELVO are often eligible for neuroendovascular stroke surgery, which can decrease the likelihood of disability or death if performed early enough. The bill ensures that these patients will be triaged and quickly transported to the facility best equipped to treat them.

SNIS President Blaise Baxter, who is an interventional neuroradiologist in Chattanooga, Tennessee, commented, “The passage of this legislation puts Tennessee on the leading edge of stroke care. These new protocols will help ensure every stroke patient—not just the lucky ones—is triaged properly in the field and that those suspected of severe stroke are taken directly to the best facilities. Because of these protocols, we will see more patients survive and thrive after stroke.”

Adam Arthur, MD, a neurointerventionalist in Memphis, Tennessee, and the President-Elect of SNIS, added, “ELVO patients, like trauma patients, must receive immediate specialized care if they are to be saved. These new protocols will greatly improve the odds of patients with the deadliest type of stroke having their stroke reversed, sometimes enabling them to walk out of the hospital within a few days. We hope more states follow suit.”

According to the Get Ahead of Stroke campaign, Senator Bill Ketron is the bill’s primary sponsor in the Tennessee Senate. In the Get Ahead of Stroke announcement, Sen. Ketron stated, “This legislation is the next step forward in creating a comprehensive stroke system of care throughout the state. This will ensure stroke patients get to the best stroke center as quickly as possible, and it brings Tennessee one step closer to improving stroke care.”

In an interview with Endovascular Today, Dr. Baxter stated, "The exciting bill that was passed in Tennessee will act as model legislation that can be adopted by other states to help ensure that every stroke patient gets the treatment they deserve."

The Get Ahead of Stroke campaign is working across the country to improve systems of care for all stroke patients. Last year, the Colorado Legislature unanimously passed a resolution encouraging the public health department to update stroke protocols. In Arizona, a special council updated the state’s protocols with a focus on triaging stroke patients. Other current initiatives to improve stroke care systems through policy change are underway in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Virginia.