Valley General Hospital And UW Neurologists To Start Stroke ID Program

On Monday, April 23, the Everett Herald ran an article on the stroke ID program that Valley General Hospital will launch next month. The program includes cooperation between the General Valley hospital and UW neurologists at Seattle’s UW Medicine.

UW stroke management specialists will consult the hospital about a patient’s symptoms and will be able to review the patient’s diagnostic medical scans. Also, Valley’s hospital staff will receive training and workshops from UW staff.

Mike Liepman, Valley’s General Chief Executive Officer commented on the current system in the article:

Valley’s physicians currently consult with specialists when patients with stroke symptoms arrive at the hospital…But sometimes it can take time to contact an on-call neurologist, and there’s no guarantee the physician can view the patient’s diagnostic images, such as CAT scans, online.
The new system can help people avoid long-term disability and care that can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

According to the article, this contract will cost a participating hospital $10,000 a year, but is expected to be a more efficient system than the one they are using now. With respect to efficiency, the article also provides that “stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in Snohomish County” and, as such, efficiency in care is essential.

In the new program, hospital emergency room physicians will have the ability to start “evaluation, blood work and imaging” while patients are being transported, so patients can receive treatment sooner. Hospital emergency room physicians can reach UW neurologists in less than five minutes, whereas the current system takes more time.