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Philips Healthcare and NeuroCall Collaborate to Bring Telestroke Services
14 Nov 2011
NeuroCall, Inc., one of the nation’s leading providers of telestroke services and Philips Healthcare, have announced a customer delivery agreement to implement telestroke services at Sisters of Mercy Hospital in Northwest Arkansas.

“Having access to neurology consultation is absolutely critical when treating stroke patients, but many communities throughout the country just do not have access to this level of care. We’re committed to changing this by working with progressive healthcare providers like Sisters of Mercy to bring specialty
care directly into their emergency departments at a moment’s notice,” said Ricardo Garcia-Rivera, M.D., founder of NeuroCall, Inc.

It is estimated that more than 140,000 people die each year from stroke in the United States making it the third leading cause of death among Americans. This statistic could be positively impacted with the development of remote neurological consultation from companies like NeuroCall, Inc. using advanced
telehealth systems like the one developed by Philips.

Sisters of Mercy Health System has implemented a telestroke network spanning 4 states and over 8
hospitals. This new telestroke care model combines clinical consultant services from NeuroCall with the eICU remote monitoring and informatics technology from Philips to provide a comprehensive, integrated stroke toolkit. This standards-based toolkit incorporates AHA Stroke Guidelines and is accessible by clinical staff and remote clinical consultants.

The telestroke solution leverages the proven Philips eICU Program that has been deployed for several years at Sisters of Mercy hospitals to improve patient outcomes and reduce length of stay for ICU patients across the health system. As with ICU patients, timing of stroke patient therapy is critical to positive outcomes.

This model adds new eConsultant functionality to existing eICU software and two-way audio-video
technology to connect NeuroCall’s neurologists with hospitals throughout the country that do not have a neurologist on staff.

By interacting and collaborating with the remote neurologist, these hospitals can provide more accurate diagnosis and earlier treatment to enhance their service to the local community. This allows powerful clotbusting drugs to be administered sooner – saving valuable time and brain function for stroke patients.

“We’ve effectively taken distance out of the equation. Today, it doesn’t matter if our patients live in urban or rural communities, if they present in a hospital that is using our services they’ll be able to receive the
full attention from one our neurologists within minutes… this makes all the difference when the clock
starts ticking,” adds Dr. Garcia-Rivera.