Abstract Body: Introduction: AI-based Stroke Care Coordination Platforms (AI-SCCP) have been shown to improve patient transfer decisions and provide access to the highest quality standards of care for all patients. Since strokes happen everywhere and anytime, we examine the economic benefits of implementing AI-SCCPs for two different hospital types: CSC - a comprehensive 24/7 stroke program inclusive of endovascular surgical care and PSC - “Acute Stroke Ready” facilities with radiological imaging and thrombolytic medication treatment capacities but no endovascular surgical care and patients/families.
Methods: Using 2021 Medicare MS-DRG payment averages, we calculate the AI-SCCP's PSC break-even point, its effects on CSC finances, and the reduced transfers' economic benefits for the patient and family.
Results: Avoided transfers enable the PSC to continue caring for the patient locally, increasing patient volume and resulting in increases in total contribution margin and net revenues beyond the costs of the AI-SCCP. While these retained patients decrease the CSC patient transfer volume, the CSCs will still provide care to all PSC patients needing surgical interventions and patients with MS-DRGs 61-66 who arrive at their locations via initial presentation in their emergency departments. Only 1.7% of all non-surgical stroke discharges were from PCS rural/small-town community hospitals (15% of all US hospitals), illustrating that there is room to avoid more futile transfers. Futile transfers have financial costs for family members, such as hotels, transportation, meals, and lost wages during the patient’s care and increased negative impacts on the patient’s health. Futile transfers increase the episode of care costs to the healthcare system through added ambulance transfers and physician and facility bills, adding out-of-pocket patient costs without adding health outcomes or value.
Conclusions: AI-SCCPs offer financial benefits to the PSC and CSC by ensuring patients are at the facility, which provides the best possible benefits for them, a triple “win” for the PCS, CSC, and patients/families. For financially strained PCSs, the retained revenue is critical. Using AI-SCCPs ensures that local hospital/emergency departments can provide timely, expert stroke care for patients and their families in situ. In cases of necessary transfer, the receiving CSC team is prepared and ready to treat these patients, saving valuable time and brain immediately.