Collaboration Aims to Expand Telestroke Care in Georgia

Stephens County Hospital is partnering with Wellstar Health System to expand stroke care in Northeast Georgia by adding virtual care consultations.

Based in Toccoa, Georgia, Stephens County Hospital is an acute care hospital with 96 beds. It is partnering with Wellstar Health System, a nine-hospital system in the state, to provide stroke patients with access to vascular neurology specialists. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 795,000 people in the US have a stroke every year. The CDC also noted that every 40 seconds, someone in the US has a stroke.

Through virtual care technology, the vascular neurology team at Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center will support Stephens County Hospital staff in providing stroke care. The team will connect with patients and collaborate with emergency room (ER) physicians, radiologists, and hospitalists to manage stroke patients seeking care at Stephens County Hospital.

“Stroke is among the leading causes of death in our region and this initiative will allow us to do more at our hospital in managing stroke patients than we’ve ever before been able to do,” said Van Loskoski, Stephens County Hospital's CEO, in a press release. “Historically, if you’ve come to our hospital for a stroke, our team immediately began treatment and patients were then transferred to other hospitals. The support from the Vascular Neurology team at Wellstar Kennestone will allow us to keep many stroke patients here for their entire treatment. This is better for the patients and their families, but also for the overall safety of our region. It also reduces the burden on our EMS, limiting the number of transfers they have to coordinate outside of our county.”

Stephens County Hospital will also add new tools to its existing radiology equipment, including artificial intelligence-based tools to detect certain types of strokes quickly, enabling medical teams to act faster.

“Time is everything when it comes to treating a stroke,” said Brody Reid, MD, an ER physician at Stephens County Hospital, in the press release. “Having faster notification of a stroke through this advanced technology can make a world of difference in recovery.”

Prior research has shown the efficacy of telestroke services in improving outcomes for stroke patients.

A study published in December 2019 found that ambulances incorporating mHealth technology for treating strokes could provide treatment faster.

Researchers reached this conclusion after analyzing a mobile telestroke program in New York City. They found that the program could deliver stroke care approximately 30 minutes faster compared to a conventional ambulance. Researchers noted that this speed is critical to increasing the number of lives saved.

Additionally, telehealth is increasingly being used to connect patients with specialty care.

For example, a Penn Medicine virtual care program created in October 2022 aimed to promote access to fertility care at a faster rate.

Comprised of a team of advanced practice providers, the program provided new fertility care patients with telehealth-based visits and an AI-based text messaging system to assist them through initial examinations.