Massachusetts Coverdell Program

From 2012 to 2015, Massachusetts achieved significant improvements in the percentage of patients for whom an NIHSS score was recorded (73% to 84%, P < .0001) and who were screened for dysphagia (82% to 86%, P < .0001) in 56 participating hospitals through educational opportunities for hospitals and EMS agencies and technical assistance for data-driven QI.

History of Stroke Care in Massachusetts

In 2004, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health received funding from the CDC Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Program and has been funded for each subsequent program cycle. The Massachusetts Coverdell Program began by developing two collaborative QI groups: the Stroke Collaborative Reaching for Excellence (SCORE) for hospitals and the EMS QI Collaborative for EMS agencies. Data from the Coverdell registry complemented the activities of these collaborative QI groups by providing insights on trends in stroke patient care. In 2012, the Massachusetts Coverdell Program expanded efforts by collaborating with key partners to link facilities in the post-acute care setting with the wider data-driven QI initiative of the Massachusetts stroke system of care. The Massachusetts Coverdell Program was the only grantee to work in all three settings of stroke care, including EMS, in-hospital, and post-hospital transitions of care during 2012–2015.

Program Implementation for the Massachusetts Coverdell Program from 2012–2015

The Massachusetts Coverdell Program engaged in three key QI activities: (1) stroke system of care learning sessions, (2) regional meetings, and (3) technical assistance in data-driven QI.

Improving Outcomes Among Massachusetts Stroke Patients

Massachusetts Coverdell Program’s QI efforts contributed to practice and systems changes across the stroke care continuum. Major achievements in the EMS and hospital settings included development of a new statewide EMS Stroke Alert Protocol and creation of an EMS feedback form to help hospitals and EMS agencies work together to improve quality of care and care transitions. In the post-acute care setting, the Massachusetts Coverdell Program developed the framework for a Post-Acute Quality Improvement Collaborative similar to those for EMS agencies and hospitals, invited skilled nursing facilities to their learning sessions, deployed a post-acute care transition specialist, and created an educational module for skilled nursing staff.

QI activities and focused technical assistance also contributed to better quality of care for stroke patients. Performance measure data from the state stroke registry of participating hospitals revealed improvements in 6 of the 12 key Coverdell Program quality-of-care measures from 2012 to 2015 (Table 1). The two measures that had the largest increases over time were the percentages of eligible patients screened for dysphagia and for whom an NIHSS score was recorded, which increased 4% and 11%, respectively.

Table 1.  Improved Coverdell Program Quality of Stroke Care Measures, 2012–2015

 Future Directions for Stroke Care in Massachusetts

Future work includes a plan to link data across the stroke system of care from EMS agencies to hospitals to post-hospital facilities, as well as continued program monitoring through inventory surveys and dissemination of facility-specific reporting, which provides feedback in identifying opportunities for continued improvement. Establishing data linkages that accommodate patient confidentiality requirements will be key to achieving an integrated, high-performing stroke system of care across the care continuum in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Coverdell Program received 2015–2020 Coverdell funds to continue its work in stroke care.