UK HealthCare, Partners Receive Prestigious CDC Grant to Improve Stroke Care, Outcomes in Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 24, 2021) – UK HealthCare, UofL Health, the Kentucky Department for Public Health’s Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program (KHDSP), and other government partners have received the prestigious Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Program Grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This $ 1.8 million grant aims to both streamline stroke prevention in high-risk patients and improve care and outcomes for stroke patients across Kentucky.

The grant is spread over three years and enables the coordination and expansion of existing efforts to improve stroke-related health outcomes. Kentucky’s health systems and community providers will work together to implement comprehensive stroke systems for people at high risk of stroke and those who have had a stroke.

“This award couldn’t come at a better time because Kentucky has one of the highest stroke-related death rates in the country,” said Dr. Larry B. Goldstein, chairman of the University of Kentucky Neurology Department and co-director of the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute. “Over 2,000 Kentuckers die each year from strokes or stroke-related complications. Health behaviors and diseases that contribute to stroke are present at high rates in Kentucky, with contributions from smoking, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, excessive alcohol consumption, and physical inactivity. Although Kentucky has several existing stroke programs, we are pleased that this project is coordinating and expanding these efforts to improve stroke outcomes for Kentuckers. “

Goldstein, who is also the principal researcher on the grant project, says the Coverdell Prize will also allow them to target areas of the Commonwealth that are disproportionately affected by stroke, such as the Appalachians. The death rate from stroke in this region is 14% above the national average and 8% higher than the rest of the state.

KHDSP and the Stroke Encounter Quality Improvement Project (SEQIP) have made significant advances over the past 10 years in improving stroke care systems in the Commonwealth and increasing access to stroke care by increasing the number of certified stroke centers in the state and increasing the delivery of acute stroke care, reverse or minimize stroke deficits and share best practices to facilitate care during hospitalization and after discharge. Similarly, the UK / Norton Healthcare Stroke Care Network (SCN) is working with the area’s hospitals to provide clinical guidance and supervision to providers to ensure that stroke patients receive the right treatment at the right time.

This grant coordinates and extends these existing efforts in Kentucky to improve stroke-related health outcomes by working with Kentucky’s health systems and community providers to implement comprehensive stroke systems for people at high risk of stroke and stroke sufferers.

“This award confirms the voluntary efforts of the staff of stroke centers, representatives of the emergency services, community partners, KHDSP employees and colleagues in the public health sector, as well as all other interest groups, who have worked tirelessly across geopolitical borders since the introduction of SEQIP in 2009 Effort. to advance stroke care in our state, ”said Kari Moore, SEQIP Chair and co-investor on the project. “We look forward to building on these efforts supported by the Coverdell Prize.”

“The Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Program will expand our nationwide efforts to help rural and underserved Commonwealth citizens reduce inequalities and monitor our progress,” said Dr. Kerri S. Remmel, University of Louisvilleville Chair of Neurology and Co-Chair of the KHDSP Task Force. “The program will enable continuous quality improvement across the entire supply continuum from the moment of a stroke to emergency services, hospitalization, rehabilitation and outpatient care. We are excited to be working with our partners in the Coverdell program to improve stroke care in Kentucky. “

As part of the Coverdell initiative, the Kentucky Stroke Improvement Cooperative (KSIC) is established to take a leadership role in improving the quality of stroke care in the Commonwealth. Building on the KHDSP Taskforce and SEQIP, the UK and UofL Stroke Programs, and the SCN, this group will lead a collaborative effort to transform stroke care and outcomes in Kentucky by improving health approaches and practices.

This is achieved through the use of collaborative working groups to convert knowledge into behavioral changes and to increase the use of evidence-based guidelines for changing health systems. KSIC will serve its purpose by:

• Raising public awareness of stroke and related problems in the community.
• Identifying and eliminating inequalities that affect Kentucker’s health outcomes.
• Education about stroke and its management.
• Serves as a link between the community and stroke care and support resources.
• Use of data to prioritize coalition goals and activities.
• Increasing diversity of its members.

The KSIC will be a catalyst for improving the activities of other organizations promoting the health and wellbeing of all vulnerable Kentuckers who have suffered from and are living with the effects of stroke.

“A lot of great work has been done in the Commonwealth to improve care for stroke patients,” said Brent McKune, executive director of the UK HealthCare Kentucky Regional Extension Center and co-investigator on the project. “The Coverdell funding gives us the opportunity to provide support together and improve processes in order to guarantee a high quality of care.”

Since its inception in 2005, the Coverdell program has funded programs to ensure all Americans receive the highest quality of stroke care, a leading cause of death and long-term disability, by supporting coordinated stroke care systems.

Kentucky’s program joins nine other states currently funded by the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Program:

• Improve access to and participation in the Kentucky Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Task Force of the current 38 hospitals nationwide to fill the stroke care gap for high-risk populations. In addition to the focus on hospitals, the project will expand participation to the community, primary care clinics, emergency services, rehabilitation centers and long-term care facilities.
• Expand coordination between existing programs such as the Kentucky Stroke Encounter Quality Improvement Project, the nationwide UK / Norton Healthcare Stroke Care Network and the 36 certified stroke centers in Kentucky.
• Increase access, understanding, use, and compliance with the evidence-based performance measurements of the American Heart Association’s Get With the Guidelines Stroke program.
• Extend existing care systems to coordinate and expand access to rural and underserved populations.
• Increased dissemination of evidence-based guidelines to improve hypertension, obesity and diabetes control, which are the leading risk factors for stroke, which affects disproportionately high populations.
• Reduce long-term inequalities and stroke deaths and improve outcomes across Kentucky with a focus on Appalachia and underserved communities at greatest risk.

“We look forward to this exciting work and hope to lead the way in improving stroke care for people in the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Goldstein.

source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/uk-healthcare-partners-receive-prestigious-cdc-grant-to-improve-stroke-care-outcomes-in-kentucky/